


Stop and Smell the Roses

by doodlingNutjob



Series: Believe in Steven [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Corrupted Gems, Gen, Homeworld sucks, Minor Character Death, Pink Diamond Theory, despaaaiiiiirrrr, every monster gets a happy ending, get ready for a long ride, headcanon hell, more characters and relationships will be added, my choices for some of these gems are dubious, really really noncanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 14:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4832624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodlingNutjob/pseuds/doodlingNutjob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his success with Prehnite, Steven decides to help the other bubbled gems. He already did it once, so he can do it again, right?</p><p>(The events of this fanfic are based on headcanons from 2015, and are heavily AU. Diamond Authority headcanons jossed by Stevenbomb 4, Prehnite to be jossed by Monster Reunion. Take this fic with a grain of salt and enjoy!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. [Present] What now?

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to yet another trainwreck  
> This will be split between Steven's antics with gems in the present and flashback corruptions. I'll indicate if it's present or flashback in the chapter titles.

Steven had been struggling to contain his sheer joy when he was hugging Prehnite. His monster buddy wasn't a monster anymore! She was a gem again, with fluffy hair and a cool outfit and a weird eyeball gem that was still pretty appealing! Prehnite had given a gentle laugh and ruffled his hair, playfully whispering, "Guess I'm the one giving the fluff rubs now, eh?"

However, when Steven turned to look at his fellow Crystal Gems who were standing around the fountain, he did not see his joy reflected in their eyes. He instead saw concern. He'd seen that look on the beach after he'd freed Lapis Lazuli from the mirror. His smile fell, and he could feel Prehnite tensing as she followed his gaze. 

"You," she hissed, her non-gem eye narrowing. "What are you doing here?"

"They're the Crystal Gems!" Steven interrupted hastily, trying to sit up enough to maybe block Prehnite's death stare a little bit. "They-"

"Steven, I know who the Crystal Gems are," Prehnite spat. "The rebels."

"We," Pearl began, glaring at Prehnite as she continued, "are the loyal soldiers of the magnificent Rose Quartz, and we will protect this planet from-!" Hesitation, as she glanced from Prehnite to Steven and back again. "From invaders. We've already fought off Homeworld twice now, so don't even think of-"

Pearl found her zealous speech being halted by a gesture from Garnet. Reluctantly, the slender knight fell silent. "Our names are Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst." Garnet gestured to each gem in turn. "We are the defenders of Earth and the guardians of Steven Universe." She paused to take a good, long look at Prehnite. The green gem sat in the pool of Rose's tears, pulling Steven close into her arms as she glared daggers at the other gems. "Your name is Prehnite, correct?"

"Like it matters to you!" Prehnite laughed. "Gonna fight me some more? Is it gonna be another spear, or are ya gonna try something different?" The angry gem was now ignoring Steven's attempts to soothe and shoosh her. "Oh, I dunno...chase me into the sea? You seem fond of leaving gems to die in the sea, Crystal Shatterers!"

"Prehnite, please! They've promised not to hurt you!" Steven yelped. "Right, guys?"

"If she keeps running her mouth like that, I might have to break that promise," Amethyst grumbled, resulting in a smack from Pearl.

Garnet took a step forward. "Prehnite, your situation is unprecedented. You are the first gem to return from corruption."

"No thanks to you, Crystal Gems," came the snarky reply from the fountain. Garnet couldn't help a sigh now. Steven's buddy was really testing her patience.

"However, as protectors of Earth, we cannot let you run free until we can trust you." More grumbling from Prehnite that Garnet elected to tune out. "You're going to have to stay with us until we feel that you will not threaten Earth or its creatures."

"I'm not going back in that damn bubble!" Prehnite snapped indignantly. "And I'm not staying with the gems who ruined my life! C'mon, Steven. Let's blow this joint." Prehnite attempted to run from the fountain with Steven under her arm, but he wriggled free just as a purple-studded whip snapped around her. She struggled and screamed, but Amethyst just held her there with a cold expression on her face.

The purple gem turned to Garnet and muttered, "Where do you wanna put her?"

"For now," the fusion answered, "the Burning Room."

 

 

 

The entire trek back to the warp pad, Prehnite had been slung over Amethyst's shoulder while trapped in the whip, and her complaining was constant. Amethyst had groaned in relief when they stepped off the temple warp and through the door to the Burning Room. Prehnite was unceremoniously dumped on the floor, and Steven rushed to her side to make sure she was okay.

"What now?" Prehnite growled, too livid to acknowledge Steven. "If this is an interrogation, I'm not telling you a single damn thing! You lost all the leverage you had with me when you chased Spessartine off!" She caught the confused look the other gems exchanged and continued bitterly. "You got me. Nothing left to fight for. Nobody I care about. Do your worst, monsters! I'm not telling you anything!"

Pearl stepped forward, probably about to rant again, then Steven stepped between them with his arms outstretched. "Everybody STOP!"

The four gems all looked at him with mute stares, and the distressed boy continued. "You're not gonna hurt Prehnite! I just brought her back, and you're scaring her!"

"I'm not scared," Prehnite muttered, followed by a loud shush from Steven.

"Can she at least have some time to rest and talk to a friend before you guys do 'fate of the world' stuff to her? I'm tired of you guys trying to attack first and make friends later!" There were tears in his eyes now. "Give her a chance!"

"Steven, I don't think you understand," Pearl began gently. Steven interrupted her before she could continue.

"I understand that you can't trust a single other gem I help! Can I help someone for once without all of you starting a battle? I just want to help her!" the boy sobbed, pushing away a comforting hand from Pearl.

"Steven, she's a Homeworld gem," Pearl snapped less gently. She was silenced from further speaking by a hand on her shoulder.

"Steven, we trust your judgement," Garnet soothed. "But we can't just trust Prehnite right away. Trust is a thing that must be earned, and she hasn't had any time to earn our trust."

"I'm not grovelling for your exalted trust, sorry." Prehnite was still trying to be snarky, but she seemed more intent on watching Steven now.

"We don't expect you to," Garnet answered cooly, a few fingers twitching. "We may have to contain Prehnite for now, but we trust you to do the right thing. Besides," she added with a chuckle, noting his starry gaze, "you're the first gem to heal a corrupted gem. And I don't see many futures where it goes wrong." She ruffled his hair, then nodded to the other gems. "Amethyst, Pearl. We're going to give Steven and Prehnite some privacy."

Garnet led a distressed-looking Pearl and a relieved-looking Amethyst out of the Burning Room, leaving Steven and his still tied-up buddy sitting together. Just them, the crackle of the pit, the bubbled gems, and a heavy silence. Steven walked around to her side and sat down next to her, still upset and quiet. Prehnite was the one to finally break the silence.

"You're a Crystal Gem?" she asked incredulously. "They wouldn't have helped me."

"Rose Quartz was my mom," he muttered, causing Prehnite to momentarily stiffen. "Wait...what's a mom?"

Steven hesitated. How did one explain what a mother was, especially when one has never met one's mother? "A mom's a...person who brings you into the world and loves you a lot, and you look kinda like her, too." Prehnite squinted at him, clearly trying to spot the resemblance, and he helped her by lifting his shirt just long enough for her to spot the pink glint.

"You have her gem," Prehnite breathed. "You really are one of them..." She looked betrayed, and Steven quickly shook his head. 

"I'm not gonna be all scary like them, Prehnite! They're not gonna be in here for a while, so maybe...we can just talk? I can go get some chaaaaps if you want!"

Prehnite felt her mouth watering. "I'd love some chaaaaps, Steven."

 

 

When Steven returned with the chaaaaps (having all the gems stare as he went through the kitchen was unnerving), he found that Prehnite had scooted all the way over to the edge of the pit, inchworm style. She seemed to be basking in the heat it cast, staring into the burning depths.

"Welcome back!" she greeted, jumping slightly when she realized that Steven had returned. He tried to hand her the bag, then remembered that she was tied up.

"Just feed me like old times," Prehnite muttered, answering his unasked question. "It's not like I have any dignity left, anyway."

Steven hesitantly obliged, holding a chaaaap in front of her mouth until she grabbed it with her lips and started chewing. "So, whad'ya wanna talk 'bout?" she asked through half-chewed snack food.

"I wanna know why you're so sad and angry," Steven answered quietly, sitting down next to his friend at the side of the pit. "If I know why, maybe I can help make things better?"

Prehnite gave him a broken chuckle upon swallowing her chaaaap. "Your friends and 'mom' started a war, shattered thousands of gems, and left thousands of others to die. They chased my only friend into the sea and killed her, and then I..." She trailed off, breaking into maniacal laughter that sounded s tad distorted until Steven thrust more chaaaps towards her. She took the bait and chewed contentedly, her expression getting more sane before she swallowed again. "Err...sorry. Your friends weren't very nice to me, Steven."

Steven was mute for a moment. "I think the Crystal Gems only acted like that because Homeworld wasn't very nice, either."

Prehnite laughed derisively for a moment, sounding a little distorted again before she abruptly stopped giggling. "You're absolutely right. Homeworld wasn't nice." She paused and giggled again. "Although, how would I know? I came from this stupid Kindergarten. I never saw Homeworld."

Steven gasped, and Prehnite smirked. "I was mined right around the time Rose Quartz threw her tantrum. I was pulled from the hellhole that was Kindergarten and thrust into the hellhole of the rebellion to fight for Yellow Diamond. Neither she nor the rest of Homeworld gave a damn about me. I was defective, but they were so short on gempower that they kept me anyway!" She let out a growl, and Steven nearly force-fed her another handful of chaaaaps to calm her down. The crunchy things were therapeutic, somehow.

"Spessartine was the first gem i met who seemed to give a damn about me. We met when Yellow and Blue Factions trained a few squads together. Spess wasn't even supposed to be there because she was in special training...but she hung around me because, to quote her, 'my gem looked cool.'" Prehnite was staring vacantly into the pit now, her tone gentle and fond. Steven could tell that she'd been close to Spessartine.

"She started sneaking away from her teacher to chat with me. I was the defective gem who couldn't cry or her face would melt, and she was an experiment to create a super gem...but, well, she kept short-circuiting and Blue Diamond was really unhappy with her. Spess wasn't supposed to say anything about that, of course, but...y'know, I wouldn't tell on her..." Prehnite was starting to look a bit misty-eyed, and Steven handed her more chaaaaps. She munched a bit more, then continued. "We both knew that we probably had no futures after the war, and, well...we liked to fantasize about, y'know, what futures we would've had. What we would've had if we were normal and there was no stupid rebellion." Two tears rolled down her cheeks now. One was a regular tear, and one was bright green acid that left a seared black trail in her skin. Steven jumped and quickly ran a finger he licked down her face, healing the burn.

"Th-thank you, Steven," Prehnite sniffed. They were both silent for a moment.

"She didn't want to fight any more, Steven. The Crystal Gems couldn't just let her go. They thought she was the electric super gem when she was actually starting to, uh, run out of power. They chased her into the sea and shattered her. The whole ocean was burning with her power for a split second, and then she...she was gone..."

"Did you want to fight, Prehnite?" Steven asked quietly.

"No," she muttered bitterly, looking away as another acid tear fell. Steven treated her again, then stood up.

"Well, if you both were thinking about similar stuff, maybe similar stuff happened to you." She started walking, head craned upward as he went, scanning the array of bubbles.

"What do you mean?" Prehnite asked slowly, trying to figure out Steven's logic.

"My friend and I once poofed a gem monster that came out of the sea," he answered thoughtfully. "Maybe that was Spessartine?" He squinted briefly, then gestured up at a reddish bubble. "Is that her gem?"

The orange gem in question was marked with a pale blue circle and radiating lines. Prehnite spent a few moments scooting over to Steven's side, then he helped her up so she could look. He could tell by the way her eye widened that he picked the right bubble.

"Spessartine," she breathed. "You didn't get shattered after all..."

"That means we can help her!" Steven cheered, his eyes starry and gleaming. "But...we gotta get her down first! " He pondered for a second, then shoved a final mouthful of chaaaaps in her mouth and chucked the bag (and remaining chaaaaps) at Spessartine bubble. The bubble burst and the orange gemstone fell to the ground with a faint clang amid a shower of spilled chaaaaps. Steven and Prehnite watched it in wide-eyed anticipation.

For a moment the gemstone seemed dead, and then the whitish blue pattern began to glow brightly. after a moment's hesitation, the rest of the gem glowed as well, and a form of light emerged, forming a thin humanoid shape with little poofs of short hair. She was curled into a fetal position, and with a small scream began to distort. Her poofs of hair morphed intro wriggling fingers. Her limbs shrank into nothing, and her long body writhed as she grew bigger. Abruptly she wheezed and shrank back down, the glow fading to reveal a small version of the worm monster that Steven had fought off with Connie a couple of years ago. She was writhing and wheezing, and her gem still glowed orange in her jawless maw. The wiring had stopped glowing, however. Like it was dead.

"Spessartine?" Prehnite choked, sounding absolutely heartbroken. She was only met with distressed wheezing from the worm.

"It's okay, Prehnite! This is very okay! You kinda regenerated into a little centipeetle too when I first started helping you. Shh..." He slowly approached the writhing worm, stopping every time she flexed and wriggled her slime fingers threateningly at him. Eventually, he was within inches of her.

"Sh...it's okay, Spessartine! My name is Steven, and we're gonna be friends," he murmured soothingly, offering her a hand. She lifted her head and grabbed at his fingers with hers, running her slime digits all over his hand to sense him. After a moment she wheezed and pulled back, slamming back to the ground with a wet plop, and she started to slither off into a darker corner of the Burning Room.

Spessartine, come back!" Prehnite sobbed as Steven ran after the growling worm.


	2. [Flashback] She fled into the bottom of the sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find art pertaining to these characters on my tumblr blog arasolcan! Hope this spew is enjoyable!

Spessartine was absolutely surrounded, feet ground into the sand and fingers flexing as the rebel soldiers approached, weapons all drawn.

"Hiya, Crystal Gems!" she yelled with a wave. "Did y'all come to see the sparkling, electrifying Spessartine in action? I'm so flattered!" There was a score of confused looks as the redheaded gem kicked up a leg and twirled for them, transparent blue cape flowing around her. "Get ready, the grand finale is coming!"

The grand finale, she mused. For all her bravado, she had to be honest with her audience. She threw her arms out wide for extra emphasis and opened her mouth wide, revealing a crackling, glowing gem. The rebel soldiers looked very startled as bolts of electricity flashed out of her mouth, striking the soldiers and lighting them up until they fell into the sand with a poof. She nodded with satisfaction as other Blue Faction soldiers came in, shattering the poofed gems as the last rebels fell. She forced a small smile as a gem with a lance gave her thumbs up.

She returned the gesture as lance-gem went back to stabbing gemstones, then turned and started running. 

She'd promised herself to help her faction with one last major blow, and then she was done fighting for good. Of course, she'd never made the promise to anyone else, even Prehnite. Especially not Prehnite. Prehnite could keep fighting anyway and have a chance of making something of her life, but she'd never take that chance if she saw her closest friend running away.

Spessartine would never get that chance. If she kept losing control of her powers, she'd be poofed and wired into some magical object. With her electrical modifications, she'd be an infinite power source for all kinda of tech, as long as her gemstone itself was never damaged. As for the sentience in the gemstone...she'd waste away in nothingness for eternity until she gave up her mind to the sweet release of the void, losing herself forever. She figured that was a fate worse than deserting or getting shattered. 

So she made a break for it down the beach, pumping her legs faster as she realized several rebels were chasing her. Crap.

She had to lose them somehow, and she realized there was no better place than the sea. Earth's oceans had always enchanted her. She'd always wanted to see what kind of weird stuff was in there, but she'd never been allowed to explore. She had to focus on training.

Until today.

She sprinted into the surf and started swimming, water rushing around her body. She didn't need to breathe, but that didn't stop her from suddenly feeling as if the water was choking her.

Hands were locking around her ankles, and she frantically kicked to get them to let go. She didn't want to fight, she didn't want to poof them and have them sink into her sea, and she didn't want to be captured. She swam for her life and her freedom, gem sparking every so often and lighting up the water until she got ahold of it again.

There was open blue beneath her, but it still wasn't deep enough for her to make good her escape. 

A part of her demanded that she produce a weapon, but she knew that whatever Blue Diamond did to her gem made it impossible for her to produce a weapon. She didn't want to fight anyway.

She was done fighting for the gem that turned a regular spessartine into a wreck waiting to fail.

She felt like she'd almost made it when her head felt like it was splitting.

She choked and gagged at speartip suddenly bursting out through her parted lips. She could feel her gem positively burning, and she let out a banshee-like scream as she curled in on herself from the pain, dropping quickly into the depths as her gem fried. The moment her form poofed, her gemstone let loose with all of the voltage it had been storing. The entire ocean was a blinding flash filled with pained screaming. After the second-long flash, there were only gemstones in her wake, sinking slowly to the bottom. Her glowing, burning gemstone didn't dim, but its electrical wiring went dead after unleashing its final voltage.

There was a glow, and Spessartine started to regenerate once more.

Escape.

Everything felt wrong, wrong, wrong. She tried to reform but there was a fatal error.

She screamed and wheezed, lashing her long, slender, slimy body through the waves. She lifted her head briefly above the water, screaming and wheezing at the shore before diving back down.

All she could sense was dark and light, and so many glowing lights drifted down.

Power. They had power.

She needed power.

She rushed at the falling gemstones, which where about to regenerate, and made sure her mouth was gaping wide open.

Power.

They had power.

She needed power.

She was dying.


	3. [Present] Welcome Party

Steven finally managed walking toward the door with the worm sucking contentedly on his hand, scraping it with her gem. It felt funny, but it was the only way she agreed to come with him. Corrupted gems were weird.

"Steven, you can't just leave me here!" Prehnite whined. 

"Garnet said you gotta stay in the Burning Room till she decides it's okay for you to leave," Steven replied apologetically. "I'll come back later, though! Hopefully with Spessartine the gem!"

"At least untie me?" the green gem begged. "Writhing around like this is embarrassing..."

Steven shook his head, intense pity on his face. "I'll try to get the gems to untie you, but it was hard to just get them to leave you alone..."

"Screw it. I can tolerate being guarded if they untie me," Prehnite snapped, and Steven shrugged.

"I can ask them about that. They might untie you in that case."

"Thank Diamonds," Prehnite breathed reflexively, then corrected herself. "No, screw them. Thank you, Steven."

Steven nodded and opened the door, worm still sucking his hand.

 

 

"You WHAT?" Pearl exclaimed, followed by Amethyst giving her a look.

"Nice glove, Ste-man," was her comment.

"Are you sure this creature is safe?" Garnet asked after a few moments of silence. Steven nodded enthusiastically in response.

"She was just a lil scared, but we're buddies now. Isn't that right?" He spoke affectionately as he lifted his arm slightly, and the worm wriggled and wheezed a bit in response, still not letting go. "...Her teeth do hurt a lil bit, though. Also, can you untie Prehnite if someone goes in the Burning Room and watches her?"

Garnet looked pensive. "Find a way to carry the worm without her biting you, and you can work your Steven magic. As for Prehnite...I'll watch her," the fusion answered. "I'll see her trying to pull anything before she does it."

Steven hugged her leg (worm included) and then ran outside eagerly, already rattling off some kind of plan to himself.

 

 

His first item was calling Connie. The phone rang a few times before she picked up. She should've just gotten back from tennis practice...

"Steven, hi!" she answered, picking up on the fifth ring. "Sorry about that, we just got home and I had to put all of my stuff down."

Well, add another tally to the "Steven was right" count.

"Connie, you won't believe all the stuff that happened today. You know the centipeetle we made friends with?"

"Oh, you mean the little acidic arthropod gem? She's pretty hard to forget."

"She's not a centipeetle anymore!" Steven giggled, barely containing his excitement. "She's a gem named Prehnite now!"

There was a gasp of wonder on the other end. "It really worked! That's incredible, Steven! Ooooh, there's so much you gotta tell me! What's she like?"

Steven explained all the stuff about Prehnite being in the war and her not getting along with the Crystal Gems and her corrupted friend Spessartine. Connie listened in attentive silence until he was finished.

"So there's another corrupted gem you're trying to help now, and her name's Spessartine," Connie repeated.

"Yup! She's that worm that wanted the glow bracelet on the day we met in the bubble," Steven clarified.

Connie felt a small blush rising in her face at the mention of bubble day. "So, what's the treatment this time, Dr. Universe?" she asked, trying and failing to suppress a small laugh.

"It's simple, Nurse Maheswaran," he replied in the most ridiculous accent he could muster. "We need a prescription of as many glowsticks as we can carry!"

"Isn't that a bit much, doctor?" Connie gasped in mock fear.

"She needs the glowy stuff," Steven asserted in the most serious doctor voice he had in him.

 

 

 

Connie had arrived a short while later to find Steven sitting serenely with a worm's mouth engulfing his hair. The worm was a lot smaller than she remembered...roughly the size of that centipeetle that Prehnite used to be.

"Is that...okay?" the concerned girl yelped.

"It's fine. My hand was getting sore," he answered calmly. "I called Sour Cream and he says he has a couple of boxes he'll give us."

"How'd you get him to give you so many glowsticks?"

"I told him we were throwing a wild par-tay for a new friend," he replied cheerfully. "A Cool Friend like him couldn't leave a fellow party host hanging!"

"I see," Connie nodded. "And how are we getting them? Lion?"

"Lion," Steven affirmed, already producing Lion Lickers from his pocket and whistling. In moments the big pink cat was there, gazing hungrily at the frozen treats.

"Lion, can you take us to Sour Cream? We gotta get some glowsticks from him." Lion snorted, and Steven waved the Lion Lickers enticingly. "You'll get to eat these when we get back!"

That got Lion's attention. He crouched to allowed Connie and Steven onto his back, and then he roared open a portal and sprang through it. On the other end was Sour Cream's warehouse, where he was moving around several boxes of stuff. He turned at the thud of Steven accidentally tumbling off of Lion's back because the worm decided that was an opportune time to thrash.

"Woah," Sour Cream mumbled as he turned down the volume on his iPod. "Sweet new hat, Steven."

"She's my new friend, not a hat," Steven giggled as Connie helped him back up. "Her name's Spessartine."

"Trippy," Sour Cream mused as he got the two boxes of glowsticks out. "That's gonna be one sick party, little dude."

"You bet it is. It's gonna be really fun!" Steven cheered. "Thanks for the glowsticks, Sour Cream!"

"No problem, dude. Now go bring down the house," the Cool Kid responded, holding up a V with his fingers. Steven and Connie giggled, doing the same before hauling the two boxes onto Lion's back. It was really touch to balance on him with the glowsticks, but they were on a mission, darn it. A Steven and Connie mission!

"Okay, we're all buckled in and ready to go," Steven told Lion, patting the cat's shoulder. "Let's goooo-!" Right as Lion roared, the worm thrashed really hard and almost sent Steven to the ground with his box had Connie not reached over and stabilized him with her arm.

"Thanks, Connie." He turned and smiled right as they rushed through the portal, and Connie couldn't suppress a giggle.

Lion dumped them in the sand a bit unceremoniously as soon as they arrived, and the worm screamed in protest as the tumble knocked her off Steven's head.

"Lion, while that was extremely rude and I am very disappointed in you," Steven said sternly, "A promise is a promise. Here's your Lion Lickers, you naughty cat." Steven tossed them over to Lion, and the pink beast grunted in satisfaction, biting into them as he rolled onto his back.

"We've got the glowsticks now, Dr. Universe. What's the next course of action?" Connie didn't even wait to start opening her box, figuring Steven would want them ASAP. 

"The next step, Nurse Maheswaran, is to train the poor patient," he answered. "Thank you for unpacking the medicine."

"With pleasure, doctor. We're using the glowsticks as positive reinforcement, right?"

"Yeah! When she does something good, she gets a glowstick to play with! I wanted to have a lot handy because she's probably gonna do a lot of good stuff," Steven murmured in a conspiring tone. "Loooots of good stuff."

"So what's first? Basic commands? I think I read about training dogs once..."

"Yeah...also, if she does good stuff in general, glowstick!" Right as he said this, the worm wrapped around his leg and whined, fingers grabbing for Steven's hand.

"Aw, how cute. Spessartine wants to hold hands," Steven cooed as he bent down a little and lowered his hand to her. Immediately she wheezed ahd latched her mouth around his hand once more, sucking again.

"That," Steven sighed, "is how NOT to earn a glowstick."

"Duly noted," Connie giggled.

 


	4. [Present] Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really overjoyed at how much positive attention my little fic has been getting these first few days, oh gosh  
> Here's another chapter, my lovelies

Steven had dislodged the worm from his hand, and was now standing in front of her, with Connie at his side. He was holding an uncracked glowstick in his hand, and was gazing down at his gently wheezing charge.

"Spessartine, the first step to feeling better is knowing that you have friends," he began. "You already know that I'm Steven and I'm your buddy, right?" The worm's wheezing temporarily escelated into soft screams, which Steven took for a "yes," seeing as she didn't try to slither away. "Well, another one of your buddies is named Connie. She will now say hi." He gestured to Connie, and she lifted a hand in a friendly wave.

"Hello, Spessartine, nice to meet you!" she greeted. Immediately the worm screamed, recoiling at the wave, and attempted to slither away. Steven handed the glowstick to Connie, then immediately ran over to the worm and picked the writhing creature up. She screamed a little more, then curled herself toward Steven's familiar scent.

"Spessartine, that's a very rude way to greet a new friend," he chided. "Let's try this again, okay?" He held her towards Connie, and though she screamed and writhed a bit more, Connie held her hand toward her and eventually the worm calmed down enough to stroke the now-nonthreatening hand with her fingers.

"Good job!" Connie cheered, snapping the glowstick and putting it around the worm's finger before she could nibble on her hand. "Overcoming shyness can be pretty tough, so I understand how that first meeting could be rough for you..."

Connie trailed off as she watched the worm screaming with joy as she aggressively popped the glowstick off her finger and into her mouth. She wriggled contentedly as she played with the glowing thing in her maw. In a few moments, one of her teeth sliced it and her mouth oozed with brightly colored glowing liquid.

"Is that safe?" Connie gasped, taking a small step back. "I'm pretty sure the contents of glowsticks are toxic..."

"Well, it might be safe for gems. I think I might've seen Amethyst eat one before," Steven pondered.

"What _hasn't_ she eaten?" Connie asked with a small giggle.

"Okay, back to business," Steven declared. He returned the worm to the sand, partially because her mouth was oozing glowstick goo now. "Spessartine, we gotta practice behaving like a civillified gem now."

"You start by not biting people's hands," Connie offered.

"Yes," he agreed. "Don't bite anything else, either."

The worm looked almost disappointed, or maybe it was just the fact that most of the glowstick goo had dribbled out of her mouth now.

 

 

 

Well, Prehnite had gotten what she'd asked for. She was untied. But at what cost? She now sat at the edge of the pit again, her back to the lava. Sitting against the wall, watching her intently through a mirrored visor with her arms crossed, was Garnet. Not being able to see Garnet's eyes was really unnerving to Prehnite, and she strove to make as little potential eye contact as possible. The silence was so thick it could be cut with a knife, until finally Prehnite's curiosity got the better of her.

"How many bubbled gems are even in here?"

"Hundreds."

"Why do you keep them all here?"

"It was the best-suited room in the Temple."

"No...I meant, why do you bubble them? Wouldn't you rather shatter them?"

"It would save space, but Rose Quartz abhorred needless gem shattering."

"She didn't have any issues with shattering our soldiers," Prehnite muttered darkly.

Garnet's gaze seemed to pierce Prehnite now. "She regretted shattering Homeworld soldiers in the rebellion, but it was a necessary evil. They would've gladly shattered her and the other Crystal Gems if she didn't act." Garnet paused, turning her gaze toward the bubbles for a moment. "Corrupted gems, however, had already suffered a fate worse than death. They lost themselves, and Rose wanted to help them, not fight them. She never did succeed, but she bubbled them to keep them in a painless sleep." Another pause and an awkward silence. "You knew."

"Knew what?" Prehnite huffed, crossing her arms. "I knew I was nothing to either side, if that's what you mean."

"No." Garnet turned and fixed Prehnite in her eerie mirror stare again. "You were corrupted not long ago. You knew how it felt to be worse than dead, and you probably also knew the release of sleep in a bubble." She watched Prehnite carefully for a reaction now. "Rose couldn't help corrupted gems like you, but her son Steven did the impossible with you."

"And? I know you're trying to go somewhere with this."

"Prehnite" The name was spoken so firmly, the newly healed gem froze up, eye going wide. "Steven was so determined to help you that he did the impossible. You are the first gem to ever return from corruption." Garnet hesitated slightly. "How does it feel, to go into the darkness and come back?"

Prehnite's eye narrowed. "Like you care, Crystal Gem."

Garnet sounded irritated instead of morbidly curious now. "On Homeworld, corrupted gems were poofed and shattered before anyone knew about them. They never got help. Rose Quartz and her closest followers were the first to ever try to save them. The Crystal Gems do care."

"So you only care about me once I'm a hideous beast?!" Prehnite screeched, a hint of distortion creeping back into her voice. "You only care about my life once I've lost all reason to stay alive? You have NO IDEA how it felt to be that way!" She could feel tears welling up, but she fought not to cry. Steven wasn't here to heal her. A defective gem like her shouldn't cry anyway.

"You're right," Garnet said quietly, waiting until Prehnite's breathing slowed. "I don't know how it felt. That's why I'm asking you. I want to understand. Steven sees the good in you and wants to help you...and I trust his instincts. I want to help him to help you."

Prehnite sniffled, glaring at Garnet. "You really don't wanna know, Crystal Gem."

"Please tell me, Prehnite," Garnet asked, politely but firmly. It came out as more of a command, really.

Prehnite suddenly found a demented smile creeping onto her face. "You really wanna know, huh?" A dark chuckle. "Imagine everything you've ever loved or liked or held dear in any way at all...just imagine it all slipping through your fingers like water, and there's no way to get anything back."

Garnet put her elbows on her knees, chin resting on folded hands. She was listening intently.

"Oh, but that's not all!" Prehnite continued. "The gaps in you that all of that stuff left behind when it fell away...those gaps hurt like hell. They never stop hurting. It's always pure agony, and there's nothing you can do to help the pain. It eats you alive, Crystal Gem. You sit there and it eats you and eats you and you scream and scream and it never, ever stops! The pain drives you mad before long. You lose everything about yourself to the agony. Life is nothing but agony and sadness and violent urges to take out the pain on anything nearby. Your only friends are splinters of yourself. You talk to little pieces of yourself, but they can't talk back. You just scream into a void, hoping you reach back to yourself, but you never do! And the pain never, ever stops. You don't remember anything or think of anything but the agony and how everything is wrong. You think about how your existence is wrong. You try to stop the pain sometimes but it never-ever stops." She was breathing heavily now, a wild look in her eye, the occasional distorted tone in her voice as her volume rose and her words sped up. Garnet never moved, but had Prehnite been paying attention, she would've seen a slight lip tremble.

"And it never stops until someone kills your deformed body and sends you back to your gem, but if you're not lucky enough to end up in a stupid bubble and never think again, you just regenerate, and it hurts even worse than before. You can't even fully form your other jacked up body! You have to resort to a shell of a shell, and you're even less than before. It just hurts and hurts and hurts until someone puts your sorry soul out of its misery!" Prehnite pounded a fist into the brick and failed to flinch. "And if the bubble pops, have fun in hell again! There's no escape!"

"You escaped," Garnet countered, a slight tremor in her voice.

"I...I was extremely lucky," Prehnite breathed, sounding extremely tired now. "Steven...he...he cared. He cared a lot. He put up with the endless screaming and tantrums. He didn't see me as a monster. He saw me as a friend. A really scared and hurt friend. He...he helped me. I felt like maybe...maybe there was something to live for again. He just..." Prehnite sniffled again. "I couldn't let the big sky spike shatter him!" This last statement burst out of her in a desperate scream, like she was locked back in the moment in the chamber of the Shooting Star.

"He helped you by teaching you how to love again," Garnet stated. It sounded more like a question, though.

"Y-yes. Yeah. Exactly," Prehnite stammered. "When I...after that, he...the bubble popped again, I think. I finally remembered something...it...I remembered him and he was my friend. Steven. He gave me chaaaaps and fluff rubs and we watched the crying square and he healed me. Steven." She spoke in clipped words now, and they all had a hint of distortion now. She had pulled her knees to her chest, and just hugged herself while shivering, her eye painfully wide.

Garnet slowly got up and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's over now," she murmured kindly. "Steven helped you."

"Steven!" Prehnite wailed, the distorted warble heavy. "I w-want a fluff rub...I'm scared..."

Garnet kept her hand on Prehnite's shoulder while the green gem continued to babble for a short while longer, before sinking into a trouble silence.

It really is worse than death, Garnet thought. 

Neither Ruby nor Sapphire could take losing the other in such a way.

 


	5. [Present] A week in the life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven keeps a video log for the week on his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear the previous chapter was meant to be fluffy, but then Prehnite opened her mouth  
> i'm so sorry i promise she'll be happier soon

**Monday**

The footage opened on Steven waving to the camera. "Hi! Today I'm gonna start a video log of stuff I do with Spessartine. It was Connie's idea." He giggled a bit, turning his phone to get Connie on screen. She gave an awkward giggle as well, then yelped as the worm she was gingerly holding chose that moment to cough up some glowstick goo.

The footage abruptly cut off with Steven yelling "Connie!"

 

The next clip opened on a zoomed in shot of the worm writhing in the sand. There was music playing from a small radio nearby.

"Today, Spessartine discovered the joy of dancing," Steven whispered. He was unwittingly close to the mic so it was rather loud and distorted. "She really seems to like this song!" There were a few more moments of silence from him as he watched the worm, well, do the worm. Then he whooped and threw a few glowsticks into the sand. Immediately the worm screamed with joy and grabbed a glowstick in her mouth as she kept dancing.

It was then that the camera suddenly turned, revealing Connie standing next to him, holding her hand out. "May I have this dance, sir?" she asked with a slight blush.

The phone was dropped in the sand as Steven happily obliged. With the worm dancing nearby, the two children moved together across the sand, effortlessly falling into movements that synced with the music. As the song closed, Connie dipped Steven with a whoop, and as he laughed, the pink glow of his gem engulfed them.

And Stevonnie stood giggling in their place, laughing heartily as they started to move to the next song on the disc.

The worm had stopped now, gurgling glowstick goo and twitching her fingers in a somewhat distressed manner. Stevonnie turned to look, then noticed Steven's phone lying in the sand.

"I forgot the phone was still recording!" Stevonnie gasped before destabilizing and splitting into Steven and Connie. The boy scrambled to go turn off his phone while the girl sat and fought back a blush.

 

The shortest clip of the day was filmed just after sunset. Connie had gone home by this point. In the darkness, the worm's glowstick dribble was glowing vibrantly.

"I just wanted to film this because it looks cool," Steven confessed, filming the worm's dribbling a little bit more before turning off the camera.

 

Now the camera focused on a little pile of blankets next to Steven's bed, looking down on it from the side of said bed.

"This," he explained, "is Spessartine's new bed!" He paused, waiting for something. "Spessartine, it's really soft and cooooomfyyy. C'mere!" After a few more moments' hesitation, the worm slithered into view of the camera and stroked a blanket with her fingers. She then gingerly wormed her way into the blanket pile and curled up, wheezing gently in Steven's direction.

"I'd give you a glowstick," he said apologetically, "but i really like those blankets!"

There was a quiet shriek and then the worm went silent.

"I can give you a nightlight!" Steven offered cheerfully, pulling one from a shelf and plugging it in near the blanket pile. "There, much better. Good night, Spessartine."

He flicked the lights off, turning the camera off as he did so.

 

**Tuesday**

The opening clip of the day showed the worm with a glowing object clearly visible in her abdomen. Even if her mouth wasn't structured for that, she could've been smiling. This was one entry in the log that had a specific purpose.

"Connie!" Steven yelped. "Does your mom know anything about getting nightlights out of stomachs? Spessartine ate hers last night!"

A few more moments of footage of the worm's glowing belly, and then the clip ended.

 

In the next clip, also sent to Connie, there was merely a damp-looking nightlight whose light was fizzling.

"Nevermind," he said sheepishly. "She coughed it up."

 

The next clip didn't have the worm in it, but it did have Steven's other monster buddy.

"Hey, Steven," Prehnite rasped, giving a half-hearted wave from her spot against the Burning Room wall. "What's that?"

"It's my phone! I'm recording stuff so we have a bunch of nice memories to look at!"

"I see," she responded uncertainly. "How're things going out there, anyway?"

"Well, we found out that Spessartine likes glowsticks and dancing! Also, she lost her nightlight privileges," Steven rattled off. "She also made friends with Connie!"

"Connie, Connie, Connie..." Prehnite murmured. "She's that one human friend of yours, right?"

"Yup!" Steven confirmed cheerfully. "And now she and Spessartine are friends too!"

"It's nice to hear that Spess is doing well," Prehnite breathed. She paused for a moment, before fixing Steven in her gaze. "When can I see her again, Steven?"

"Weeellll..." Steven hesitated a bit. "The gems don't want me to bring a corrupted gem into the Burning Room because she might start popping bubbles." Another pause. "And, well, it might make you really sad if you see her again and she's still a worm. I wanna make sure she's back to normal before you see her again!"

Prehnite seemed upset for a few moments, then nodded. "Fair enough," she muttered. "It would be nicer to see her back to her old self, yeah."

A few moments of silence while Prehnite looked wistful.

"Do you want some chaaaaps?" Steven finally asked.

"I would like that very much, yes," she answered, a smile creeping onto her face. "Thank you, Steven. For everything."

"No prob, Bob," he responded, turning off the camera.

 

The next clip was Steven secretly filming Pearl and Amethyst, who were next to the Temple Gate.

"You know you can take a break any time you want, Pierogi," Amethyst commented, sitting on the warp pad with a bag of popcorn in hand.

"We need to get that gem somewhere to stay outside of the Burning Room," Pearl muttered. "If Steven's going to continue with this project of his, those gems can't stay in there. They'll be able to pop bubbles whenever they want, and then what?"

"Relax," Amethyst groaned. "We've kicked their butts before, and we can do it again if we have to. Besides, there's only two of them right now."

"We know for a fact that one of them was a Homeworld soldier in the war!" Pearl snapped. "Excuse me for not letting my guard down around an enemy!"

Amethyst rolled her eyes and ate some more popcorn as Pearl continued fiddling with the Gate. "What are you trying to accomplish, exactly?"

"I can set up a new room connected to the Temple Gate. Only we can open and close the Gate to get in and out. No gem would escape that room without one of us being in cahoots." Pearl rattled all this off while the Gate opened and closed a few times, each time showing a glimpse of her room.

"You sure you remember how to operate this junk?"

"Perfectly sure, Amethyst," Pearl asserted as the Gate finally calmed down and shut behind her.

Pearl went back to working in Silence while Amethyst got up, and Steven turned off the camera.

 

The next clip showed the worm making a break for the waves, and the camera bobbed as Steven ran after her.

"We're going for a swim together!" he explained breathlessly as the camera turned off again.

 

The final clip showed Steven filming the worm's bed from his bed again. This time, the worm was curled around a slightly damaged teddy bear.

"She really likes MC Bear Bear," he whispered affectionately, as if she was asleep. Her loud wheezing at this statement busted that theory.

"Good night, Spessartine," he murmured softly, turning off the camera.

 

**Wednesday**

The day's log opened on footage of Steven laying sprawled in his bed in the dawn light. The worm had crawled from her bed and curled up on top of his chest.

"I couldn't resist getting this on film," came Amethyst's quiet laugh. There was a little more footage of the sleeping Steven until the worm turned and shrieked at Amethyst, making Steven flinch. Amethyst abruptly stopped the camera.

 

The next clip showed a very groggy Steven filming a few moments of the new episode of Crying Breakfast Friends.

"We're watching TV together," he yawned, and the worm briefly lifted her head into view with a snort. Steven giggled a bit, yawned again, then stopped the camera.

 

The next clip had Amethyst behind the camera again. Steven had passed out in bed again with the TV still on, and the worm was curled up with him again.

"Ste-man and his new buddy in their natural habitat," she narrated in a mock documentary voice. She started to continue, but the worm lifted her head and waggled her fingers threateningly.

"Ugh, fine, you're no fun," Amethyst grumbled.

"Amethyst, put that down!" came Pearl's voice from offscreen.

"I was just about to! Sheesh!" came the final complaint as the camera shut off.

 

The next clip was filmed from the porch of the house. Rain was cascading down, and Steven was still occasionally yawning.

"It started raining, so I took Spessartine out to watch," he mumbled, momentarily turning the phone around to show himself with the worm curled across his shoulders, fingers waving lazily. He gave a groggy smile, then turned the phone back to the rain.

"It's really nice out here," he commented, the worm groaning in agreement. He laughed a little and turned the camera off.

 

**Thursday**

The opening clip of the day showed the worm wrestling with a Game Box controller. Onscreen was a Mega Marian Sisters game, with Marian consistently running or jumping off a ledge into the void.

"I'm teaching her how to play video games," he giggled. "She's figuring out the controls, I think."

Marian ran off the edge again, and the worm started shrieking. The camera stopped.

 

The next clip showed Amethyst awkwardly extending a hand to the worm, who was currently wheezing heavily and twitching her fingers.

"Are you sure this is working, Steven?" she asked as the worm continued with her apparent panicking.

"Probably!" he answered. "She was like that with Connie at first, too."

"Sure," Amethyst muttered as she waggled her own fingers slightly. At first the worm flinched at the movement, then lunged and grabbed the purple hand with her fingers, aggressively stroking it. Amethyst yelped and started trying to shake the worm off.

"No! That means she's starting to like you!" Steven cried, and Amethyst reluctantly stopped, allowing the worm to cling on. The worm eventually ceased the finger stroking and shoved Amethyst's hand in her mouth. Amethyst looked like she was about to complain until she looked in Steven's direction.

"She likes you!" Steven cheered. Then he whispered confidentially into the camera, "And Spessartine makes a new buddy."

 

The final clip was another visit to Prehnite that Steven had decided to film. 

"Spessartine likes rain and video games and Amethyst now," Steven informed her.

The green gem smiled. "Sounds like she's really feeling better, Steven." This time he'd brought the chaaaaps ahead of time, and Prehnite was contentedly munching away.

"I also have news for you," Steven continued. "You might be moving out of this room soon, and Garnet won't have to watch you anymore."

Prehnite looked intensely relieved at this news. "I'm listening."

"Pearl's setting up a special room for you and Spessartine."

Prehnite couldn't contain a whoop, and she pulled Steven into a hug. His finger accidentally hit the stop recording button as Prehnite and Steven giggled together.

 

**Friday**

Steven didn't start the day's recording. It was actually Connie. The first clip started in the afternoon, after school ended.

"I always wanted to film one of these," Connie mused as she pointed the camera at Steven and the worm messing around at the edge of the surf. While the worm lounged in the wet sand, Steven demonstrated sand castle building techniques.

"Steven's teaching Spessartine how to build sand castles. She enjoys other ways of playing on the beach, so he figured she'd enjoy it. Sadly, she's only made a pile of sand that she dented with her fingertips. Still, that's pretty impressive for a corrupted gem!" She was quiet for a few moments as the worm sucked sand into her mouth, then spat it back out. It was held in shape by mucus, and had a crater in the top from her gem. She poked it in a few places with her fingers and looked at Steven. It looked close enough to the castle Steven had built.

"Unconventional methods, but I like it," Steven commented in a mock snooty artist voice.

"And today we discovered that worms CAN build sand castles!" Connie announced with a cheerful giggle before turning off the camera.

 

The next clip showed Connie climbing onto Lion's back with the worm curled across her shoulders.

"Are you sure she's ready for this, Steven?" she asked nervously. 

"We're taking her to a party," she whispered into the camera before answering his friend. "She really likes dancing and music and glowsticks. She'll fit right in!"

Connie looked a bit uncertain as Steven turned off the camera to climb onto Lion's back.

 

The next clip was in a relatively dark and quiet corner of the warehouse. Lights and music pounded in the background. The worm was moving uncertainly, like she wanted to dance but was overwhelmed.

"She needs a little time to adjust," Steven commented apologetically. 

"You were sure she was ready," Connie reminded him.

"She is! She just needs a little time to adjust, is all!"

An unfortunate partier decked out in glowsticks danced a little too close at that moment, getting down and glowing attractively. The worm shrieked at top volume and lunged at the partier, yanking a glowstick out of his hand and biting it. Glowing goo spurted out onto the floor at his feet. After a moment the startled dude exclaimed "Trippy!" and laughed, continuing to get down like nothing had happened. The worm started dancing, aggressively thrashing to the beat in a pool of glowstick goo.

"I think she's adjusted now," Connie murmured in shock.

"Yup," Steven agreed as he cut the video.

 

The footage came back on with Stevonnie talking behind the camera.

"So, this party ended up being really fun! Spessartine was attracting fans until we had to clean up her mess, but then she started dancing again." They turned and whooped, focusing on the camera on the worm, who was thrashing to the music in front of an audience, shrieking joyfully. People were whooping and hollering and tossing glowsticks onto the floor to encourage the dancing creature. "Get it, Spessartine!" Stevonnie cheered before giggling and turning off the camera.

 

**Saturday**

Amethyst was filming again.

"So, Ste-man had a really fun time last night," she explained, zooming in on the sleeping Steven, curled up in bed with the worm. "Poor dude's really wiped out, though. That's the sign of a gooooood party!"

The worm turned and waggled her fingers, and Amethyst lowered her voice.

"Oh, man. That worm. Lemme tell you, she was nuts when Steven came back from the party. I'm honestly wondering if someone fed her some of their 'magic dust.' Whatever that worm was having, it must've been good..." Amethyst laughed a bit, then turned off the camera.


	6. [Present] Chilling time

Steven groaned a bit as bright sunlight streamed in from the window, and flinched slightly as the worm curled up on top of him screamed. He half-consciously put a protective arm around his buddy as he groggily opened his eyes. He scowled slightly to find Pearl was the one who had opened his blinds.

"Peeeeaaaarlll," he whined. "Why're you waking me up so early?"

Pearl gave him an odd look. "It's nearly noon, Steven. It's rather abnormal for you to sleep this late. Are you feeling okay?"

"My heart hurts," Steven muttered as he grabbed his pillow and put it over his face. The worm snuffled at his shifting, then turned and screamed once more at Pearl.

"Quiet, you," she ordered as she kneeled down at the side of the bed. She tried to reach out to Steven to remove his pillow, but the worm screamed and bit her hand. Pearl yelped and jumped to her feet, trying to shake the worm off momentarily before finally yanking the little beast off and tossing her back on the bed. She hissed indignantly at Pearl and curled up on Steven once more.

"Well," Pearl finally composed herself enough to say. "Breakfast...err, lunch...is waiting for you when you're ready. You'll find it healthier than the things you ate last night, I'm sure." She folded a fresh outfit for him, then quickly dropped it at the foot of his bed before the worm could attack her again. She looked back one last time at the groaning boy, then walked back down the stairs.

Steven waited until he heard the Gate open and close to finally sit up and rub his eyes. He yawned, mouth gaping wide, then stretched and gazed down at his worm buddy, who had finally calmed down from Pearl's "assault."

"That wasn't very nice of you," he mumbled. She merely grunted in response and reached for his hand with twitchy fingers. He shrugged and obliged, licking his hand and holding it out to her. She eagerly shoved his hand in her mouth, and very briefly and dimly the wires on her gemstone flashed as it made contact with his fingers. She sucked contentedly as he stared blankly at the window.

"So, last night was fun, huh?" he finally murmured. "I had a really good time, but I kinda regret drinking that much Phun-Punch...I have a headache now..."

The worm gurgled, seemingly in agreement, just as the Gate activated again, allowing Pearl to step out. She looked fairly excited now.

"Steven! I...I don't meant to rush you, but I think I may have the new room of the Temple ready soon!" she crowed, turning around to the Gate and staring at it in concentration. Pearl's point of the star glowed in sync with her gem, and for a moment it hesitated before opening to Pearl's room again. "Almost there," she asserted. "Once I get it to open for me, it will open to all Crystal Gems. You can move your friend in once I'm done!"

Immediately Steven grinned. "Prehnite's gonna love it!"

 

Only after Steven downed his (now-cold) pancakes and threw on his clothes did he approach the Gate, the door opening for him in a gentle pink dematerialization. He jogged through the clouds, then swung his legs around the vein of the Crystal Heart that ran through Rose's room and slid down to the Burning Room. Prehnite was there as always, staring vacantly at the bubbles above. Garnet had left her alone for some reason, but Steven unhappily noted that her hands were tied. At least it was only her hands this time.

"Hi, Steven!" she greeted as she jolted out of her staring. "Your friend left to go on a mission, so I've been here by myself for a while..."

Steven ran over and untied her before hugging her. "Hi, Prehnite! I got some good news for you!"

Prehnite squealed and hugged Steven tightly. "Oh, I KNEW you'd fix her!!"

"Well..." Steven squeaked. "I was gonna say you're moving into your new room today..."

"Oh." Prehnite sounded disappointed, then squeezed him again. "That's...great, Steven! It'll be nice to get away from...looking at all this." Prehnite gestured vaguely at the bubbles, then let go of Steven. He bounced to his feet and grabbed her hand.

"C'mon! Pearl said it was ready!"

And together they bounded through the Temple Gate.

 

Steven regretted leaving the worm alone in the loft.

As it turned out, she decided to go wait down by the Gate, and Pearl had come out before Steven and Prehnite had.

She was backed against the wall screaming while Pearl threateningly held her spear in place in front of her. Pearl whipped her head around toward the Gate when it activated.

"Steven!" she yelped right as the worm let out another scream, her gem wires visibly glowing inside of her. Her slimy skin crackled with electricity as she screamed and screamed, and a rogue bolt caught Pearl's spear. Pearl locked up momentarily and joined Spessartine's screaming, then managed to drop her spear and back away. Steven rushed over to her, letting go of Prehnite's hand, as she trembled and smoothed down frazzled and slightly charred hair.

"I'm okay," Pearl managed, still trembling violently. The worm was still screaming, and Steven turned his attention to her and timidly stepped closer, staring in horror as she writhed and screamed and crackled with electricity.

Behind him, a mute Prehnite reached toward her face with a trembling hand, her gem eye glowing brightly.

Steven gasped as a bright green dart flew past him, lodging itself in the worm's mouth. She abruptly stopped glowing with electricity and went limp on the floor with what sounded almost like a relieved sigh. Steven kneeled down and stared into her mouth, realizing the dart's needle had severed the wiring. He then turned back and found Pearl wrestling a dart gun out of Prehnite's still-shaking hands.

"We had a no-weaponry rule!" Pearl screeched, finally managing to yank the gun away. She snapped it in two and it dissipated. 

"She needed me to cut off her power," Prehnite mumbled listlessly, eye still wide and hands shaky. "She was going to poof herself."

"And then she'd regenerate," Pearl retaliated. "No weapons under any circumstances, that was the rule!"

"The dart didn't have any acid in it!"

"No. Weapons." Pearl was firmly grasping Prehnite by the wrist now, and the green gem was trying to wrench her arm away.

"She could've seriously hurt Steven!" Prehnite finally screamed, and her arm distorted enough for her to slip it through Pearl's grasp...literally. She rushed over to Steven's side and hugged him with a deathgrip. She only let go when Steven started making odd noises. While the boy gasped for air, Prehnite cautiously reached for the still-limp worm and cradled her in her arms.

"I miss you..." she whispered, and while she could fight back tears, she couldn't fight off the ugly sobs that finally burst from her chest. She held Spessartine close and dry sobbed while Steven gently put an arm around her shoulders and kneeled next to her. When Spessartine stirred, she hissed quietly for a few moments, then merely went still again, except for her fingers stroking Prehnite's arm.

Prehnite, choking back another small sob, meekly moved her hand closer.

And instead of biting like she usually did, Spessartine gently wrapped her fingers around the gloved hand and made a low keening noise.

"Prehnite can move into her room now," Pearl finally offered after several minutes of silence, cringing slightly as Steven and Prehnite turned to look at her. Prehnite silently stood up, eye never leaving Pearl as she ever so gently cradled the worm.

"I want to be alone with Spessartine," she growled as she approached the Gate, waiting for Pearl to activate it.

"Err, yes...of course," Pearl replied, her gem glowing to activate the Gate. The door opened to a vacant chamber with a large star decoration on the wall, echoing the one on the Gate. She stepped aside to allow the stone-faced Prehnite through with her precious cargo, and the deactivated the Gate once more.

A few more moments of silence.

"Are you okay, Pearl?" Steven finally asked, lifting his hand toward his mouth just in case.

"I..." She hesitated, eyes flitting from the Gate to Steven. "Yes. I'm okay, Steven."

Steven still hugged her legs with utmost gentleness, and Pearl felt the tears welling in her eyes and she lightly placed a hand on his head.

He really was like his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was another one that was meant to be fluffy initially but then it ran away from me at lightspeed  
> I'm so sorry


	7. [Flashback] Light of my life

Prehnite lay sprawled on her back in the grass under a secluded tree, sighing loudly as she became acutely aware of just how sore she was. Training had been downright hellish today. They decided to put her, a long-range dart shooter, into hand-to-hand against a big amethyst. She'd be feeling this for days. Ugh. She was busy musing over how much her life sucked right now when she heard someone yelling "HEY!" a small distance away. She hastily sat bolt upright, snapping her hand into an awkward salute before kinda recognizing the gem who was leaning casually on another tree's trunk. She lazily waved, then started to strut her way over.

"Hey, aren't you..." Prehnite trailed off for a moment, staring at the orange gem blankly. "The weird gem from training?"

"Weird? How rude of you," the gem sputtered in mock offense. "But yeah, I'm from training. Name's Spessartine. S'up?"

Prehnite shrugged. "I'm doing a whole lot of being sore right now. What're you doing here?" 

"Figured I'd go find the cool prehnite from earlier and chat for a bit, nothing major."

Prehnite gave her a more serious look. "I mean...aren't you, y'know, special? Most spessartines are in Yellow Faction, but..." She gestured to the blue diamonds on the toes of Spessartine's boots.

Spessartine laughed at this. "Yeah, I'm a special one all right. I was a really dazzling customer, so Blue Diamond made me her personal project!" She put her hands on her hips and posed dramatically for a moment, the breeze fluttering her cape. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone, of course, but...my lovely prehnite, you seem fairly open-minded." She twirled, snapped her fingers, then did a double pistols and a wink gesture. Did Prehnite imagine this gem's teeth literally flashing with a spark?

"I like to think of myself as a cool customer," Prehnite replied with a shrug, leaning back against her tree. "There's so many other things to get worked up in life over." She closed her eye for a second, then looked back up at Spessartine. "So, what exactly makes you so special?"

"A little bit of everything," Spessartine answered with a smirk, until Prehnite's scowling made her soften. "Ah, well, it's actually mainly this." She twirled again, and then suddenly grounded her feet and shot a bolt of lightning at a nearby tree from her mouth. The tree didn't catch fire but it was still badly scorched. Spessartine turned to face her small audience again and took a bow.

"Spessartines don't usually do that," Prehnite commented in awe.

"Yup," Spessartine agreed, walking over to sit next to Prehnite. The green gem looked at her with a wide eye for a few moments more, and then grinned widely.

"That was awesome!" Prehnite cheered. 

"I've seen you do some pretty cool trickshots yourself," Spessartine murmured with a shrug, though her smile said she was loving this attention.

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly a powerful gem," Prehnite countered, shrugging more. "I'm lucky if one of my darts actually distracts the target long enough for someone else to move in and incapacitate them."

"Well hey, either way those acid darts have to hurt," the electric gem offered.

"Yeah, I guess you're.....wait, how much have you watched me train? I never mentioned those darts were acidic!"

"Uh...a while? I'm not doing it to be creepy, I promise!" Spessartine stammered. "I just...really enjoy watching you train. You do it with such enthusiasm. It's completely unlike watching the other big brute gems just going through the motions...you're actually getting better every time I see you!"

Prehnite's cheeks flushed dark green. "Th-thank you," she squeaked. "I kinda have to put in that effort but...I'm glad you enjoy it?"

Spessartine picked up on Prehnite's unease. "If you don't mind my asking...why?"

"Why I try that hard? It's..." She trailed off. Spessartine did just tell her confidential information about her true nature...she didn't seem to care much about the Diamonds' strict rules.

"It's because I'm a defective prehnite."

Spessartine's eyes went wide, and her gaze seemed to soften. "You don't look defective from here," she murmured.

"It's not immediately obvious, yeah..." Prehnite muttered. "That's the only reason I wasn't left in the Kindergarten."

Spessartine was quiet for a moment. "Either way, you're not defective in my book," she asserted. "Hey, I'm a weirdo too! We're both weirdo gems. We can be friends with each other, yeah?"

Prehnite nodded mutely, and to her surprise found herself being hugged tightly by her new friend. She awkwardly draped her arms around Spessartine in return. It felt surprisingly nice.

"Unfortunately, I have to go before Blue notices I'm gone. Same time and place tomorrow, yeah?" Spessartine abruptly got up, waved, and started running off.

"Same time and place tomorrow!" Prehnite called after her, waving cheerfully. "Goodbye, Spess!"

Spessartine seemed to have caught the nickname, because she sent up a few sparks and waved without turning around.

Prehnite leaned against the tree, hands clasped and face slightly flushed.

Unfortunately, despite making a new friend, she was still sore as hell.


	8. [Present] Rest your weary head

At sunset, Steven stood before the Temple Gate, watching it dissolve in pink light as he clutched several board games and plush toys. When the pink light faded, he could see Prehnite backed up in a corner, knees to her chest, the worm in her arms and her eye dull with exhaustion. She lifted her head slightly when Steven came in, but didn't speak.

"Hi, Prehnite," Steven spoke softly. "I brought you and Spessartine some stuff to play with." He waited for a reaction out of Prehnite, but she merely lowered her fluffy head again, as if to guard Spessartine.

Spessartine the worm, however, was starting to snuffle and snort, and she abruptly lifted her head from Prehnite's lap and wailed a little in Steven's direction. She wriggled from Prehnite's grasp, and the green gem gasped and looked hurt as Steven set his things down and knelt to meet the worm. 

The worm wheezed excitedly, made a weird sucking noise, then curled all her fingers in but one, and it was pointing at Steven's hand and then his mouth.

"EEEEEEEVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEN." she moaned, lashing her tail back and forth as Prehnite's eye went wide.

Steven blinked the stars from his eyes, then mutely obliged, licking his hand and touching the saliva-coated surface to her gem. The wiring sealed back up, glowing momentarily before dimming again, followed by a momentary glow from the gem itself. The worm writhed in excitement, crying "EEEEVENNNNN! EEVVEENN!"

Prehnite stared, then sniffled as a scalding green tear rolled down her face, leaving a black trail in her skin. Steven, too, felt his eyes growing damp.

"You started talking right before you were able to reform into a gem," Steven whispered to Prehnite, and she nodded in mute astonishment. There was another awkward pause apart from Spessartine's cheering, and at one point she even came back for another hit of the magic saliva. Finally Prehnite turned to Steven, multiple tear trails burned in her right cheek now.

And she hugged him tightly, choking out a "Thank you!" before she pulled back to avoid crying acid on him. After the tear fell, Steven gently ran a saliva-coated finger over her cheek, healing the damage from her tears. They hugged again, sitting in peaceful silence for a few minutes more until Spessartine wriggled between them, wheezing loudly.

"I think," Steven commented offhandedly as Spessartine draped herself over a giggling Prehnite's shoulders, "that this calls for a slumber party!"

 

 

Turns out that getting Connie to come over for a sleepover the night after a late party was a really really hard sell with Dr. Maheswaran. Connie had to argue with her mother on her end before Dr. Maheswaran finally agreed to let Connie spend the night.

Getting the gems to let Steven sleep in Prehnite's room was also a bit of a hard sell, but eventually he convinced Garnet, and she and the nonchalant Amethyst outvoted Pearl.

Steven set up sleeping bags and the game Citchen Calamity (It'd totally work with three players if Spessartine found herself unable to play) before activating the Gate to go wait for Connie.

When she finally came in, she looked exhausted but happy.

"What'd you say to get your mom to let you come over?" Steven asked in awe.

"I told her we'd have a few sessions of study group," Connie admitted sheepishly. "You still have that educational trivia game?" She grinned widely as Steven nodded his head.

"Close enough!" she cheered as she grabbed his hand and they ran toward the Gate, Steven's gem already lighting up. The door dissolved into pink light as they arrived, and Prehnite's attention abruptly turned from the wheezing worm climbing into her hair to the two children.

"Connie, right?" Prehnite asked, looking at the girl. She nodded a bit apprehensively, then offered a hand for a shake.

"Pleasure to meet you again, Prehnite," she greeted solemnly, and Prehnite snorted.

"No need to be so formal, kid. We were buddies before, right?" She cut off the handshake to perform a fist bump instead, and Connie found herself giggling.

"Our first order of business," Steven announced in a mock-serious tone, "Is attending to a calamity of a citchen variety. Everybody gather 'round the board."

He, Connie, and a slightly bemused Prehnite sat on their sides of the board, and the green gem gently lowered Spessartine down into her position. She tried sucking up one of the cards from the deck until Prehnite took the card back and had Steven shuffle it back in.

"So, here are the rules..." Steven began, pulling out the instructions.

 

"YES!" Connie cheered. "I got the golden can opener!"

"Aw, there goes my sunny side up bonus," Steven muttered.

Prehnite looked uncertainly at her cards. "I think I'm a hashbrown slinging master," she commented uncertainly.

"Ooooooo," Connie and Steven responded in unison.

"That's really really good!" Steven elaborated, and Prehnite grinned, letting out a drawn-out "Yesssssssss."

Spessartine gurgled, sucking up the top card into her mouth. Prehnite removed it and read it out loud.

"Move ahead 5 spaces, collect 6 bacon strips," she rattled off, moving the worm's pawn for her.

And then the three players gasped, and Spessartine wheezed intensely.

"I can't believe it," Prehnite groaned.

"How could this happen?" Steven cried.

"Spessartine wins," Connie admitted as she set down her cards.

Spessartine writhed and screeched in victory, and the other three players feigned despair for a few more minutes before erupting in giggles. They were packing up the game when the Gate activated and Pearl walked in with two plates of homemade spaghetti.

"Are you having fun?" she asked as she set down the plates in front of Steven and Connie.

"Very much fun. Thank you, ma'am," Connie responded politely, giving Pearl a small, cross-legged-on-the-floor bow. Pearl smiled, and returned the gesture with a proper bow before leaving the room again.

The kids started eating while Prehnite looked on for several minutes. She finally piped up with "Can I have some?"

Steven shrugged, giggled, then wound up some spaghetti for Prehnite to try. She eagerly bit into it, then slurped it all down.

"You humans really know how to make tasty junk," Prehnite commented, licking her lips. "Is it okay if I share with you guys?"

Steven and Connie exchanged a glance, then smiled and nodded, making separate little piles of noodles off to the side to save for Prehnite. When they were done, they handed her the leftovers and taught her how to wind the spaghetti.

"This is hard," she complained. "I just gotta keep giving humanity more and more credit, don't I?!"

"We humans are pretty hardy survivors," Connie confirmed with a giggle.

"Curse you hardy humans!" Prehnite cried with mock despair as she picked up the plate and tilted it toward her mouth.

Connie ended up losing it when spaghetti noodles and sauce got all over Prehnite's shirt from that miscalculated endeavor. Steven (after recovering from giggles of course) went to go get stuff to clean Prehnite up with.

"You're still a lot of fun, I see," Connie finally managed to get out.

"The funnest," Prehnite affirmed in a deadly serious voice before picking a noodle off her shirt and snorting loudly and melting into giggles of her own.

Spessartine screamed in agreement.

 

 

The trivia game had been lots of fun for Steven and Connie, but Prehnite was sorely confused the entire time (except for geological trivia, naturally) and Spessartine just wheezed and rubbed her fingers on people the entire time. By the time they finished, the kids were both exhausted.

"Um," Prehnite squeaked. "One last little thing before you guys go to sleep."

"What is it?" Steven yawned.

"I need to use the...what did you call it? Bathroom?"

 

One awkward bathroom trip later, Prehnite sat in the corner cuddling with Spessartine while Steven and Connie climbed in their sleeping bags.

"So, what's this 'sleep' business exactly?" the green gem asked curiously.

"It's a human thing. We have to rest our brains at night so they can remain functional," Connie replied a bit sleepily.

"Oh, I see," Prehnite murmured. "It's like...being bubbled for a bit, but without the bubble. Or poofing."

"Kinda. We just close our eyes and breathe really slow and then we maybe dream for a while and then we wake up in the morning all refreshed!" Steven explained.

Prehnite nodded slowly, leaning against the wall and pulling the worm closer.

"Goodnight, Steven and Connie," she murmured as the ambient light in the room dimmed.

"Goodnight, Prehnite and Spessartine," the kids answered in sync before whispering their goodnights to each other.

Spessartine just wailed "EEEVVEENN NNNEEEEEEEE" for a moment before falling quiet.

 

Prehnite sat for a moment in the dimness, listening to the slow, soft breathing of the now-sleeping children. The worm in her arms had gone peacefully still, the but doubted that she was sleeping. Just awake, really calmly so.

She sighed then, and leaned against the wall, shutting her eyes and releasing the tenseness in her body. She made herself breathe like the kids were. Was she doing it right? She forced herself not to think and just kept at it.....

.....and as she slumped down and snored gently, she could see the smiling gem Spessartine waving eagerly at her, and she ran toward Spess, resisting tears of joy.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> behold my shameless spongebob reference  
> Here's an actual chapter meant to be fluffy that ended up fluffy. Woah!


	9. [Present] Spark of life

Prehnite ended up waking up before th kids. Considering that she had never slept before, she'd been out for a long time. It took her a moment to realize that Spessartine had slithered out of her arms some time before she woke up, and she looked around, trying to find her friend. She breathed a sigh of relief, followed by a giggle, to see her wriggling around in the pile of game boxes, currently sucking on a corner of one of the boxes. Prehnite stretched a bit, then got up and gently removed the gurgling Spessartine from the pile and cradled her in her arms.

"Gggggg...aaaaamme?" the worm gurgled, turning her head toward Prehnite's and wriggling her fingers restlessly.

"Maybe when Steven and Connie wake up," she answered gently, sitting back down in her corner. "It...might be a few more hours."

As if in answer, Steven let out a snore of decent volume and shifted in his sleeping bag, making Prehnite giggle. She found a slimy finger slapped over her mouth and she giggled harder, albeit more quietly.

 

 

Thankfully for Prehnite and Spessartine, gems could easily wait several hours (although corrupted gems had distinctly less patience). Connie was the first awake, and gave the gems a groggy good morning wave before cracking open a book she'd brought, intending to read until Steven woke up. Prehnite continued playing with her hair and Spessartine gurgled quietly.

 

Steven woke up about 20 minutes later, still cute and sleepy. He yawned, stretched, then groggily checked the clock he'd brought in with him.

"Oh my gosh!" he yelped, waking up pretty quickly. "Connie, it's almost 10!"

Connie immediately put her book down, eyes going wide. "How much time do we have left?"

"Ten minutes!"

"Steven, you're on sleeping bag duty. I'll go get dressed and...then we can get the rest of my stuff together!" Connie grabbed her clean clothes and ran for the Gate, and Steven activated it so she could go through to the bathroom. That done, Steven busied himself with folding up Connie's bag and putting it in its own carrying bag. Prehnite, bemused, looked on for several moments as he did this.

"Why is she panicking?" she finally asked in curiosity.

"Her mom's gonna be here in ten minutes, and she's gonna be mad if Connie's not ready when she gets here!" Steven paused a moment to activate the Gate and went back to frantically gathering Connie's stuff. A few moments later, Connie sprinted through and the Gate shut behind her.

"Thank you so much," she panted as she shoved her hastily-folded pajamas into her bag and zipped that pocket up. Prehnite looked on, holding Spessartine firmly so she didn't escape, as the kids finished packing Connie's bag.

"I think that's everything," Connie gasped, frantically scanning the room for anything she'd missed.

Steven nodded in confirmation, then glanced back at his clock. 9:59. He sprang to his feet, gently grabbed Connie's hand, and brought down the Gate. She fumbled with her things then followed him out. 

"I'll be back in a few minutes!" Steven called before the Gate shut. 

The room seemed really quiet without the children in there. Prehnite got up and started to stack the game boxes uncertainly, Spessartine screaming "EEVVEEENNN!" and slithering laps around her feet.

When Steven returned a few minutes later, he was fully dressed and carrying a highly-piled plate of sweet-smelling food. Prehnite's mouth watered as she ogled the edibles.

"These are called pancakes," Steven explained cheerfully. "And the brown stuff is syrup! They're really yummy, but also pretty sticky! Here, you can try some!" He cut off a small bit and speared it with his fork, then held it out to Prehnite. She gently took it from the fork and chewed it, letting herself melt into the flavor. Good grief, humanity did it again.

"Thish ish delicioush, Shteven!" she exclaimed, still chewing. The boy's eyes sparkled and he pulled out a second fork.

"You keep using that fork, I'll use this one!" He speared himself another bite, then giggled. "This is our together breakfast!"

"The best kind of breakfast," the green gem added as she got herself another bite as well.

They ate in silent companionship for a few moments, then Steven spoke.

"So..." he began somewhat hesitantly. This change from his usual tone sparked Prehnite's interest immediately.

"So...?" she prompted, shoving a massive wad of pancake in her mouth.

"I talked to the gems about Spessartine just now, after the Maheswarans left..."

Prehnite swallowed heavily. "And?"

"They said today might be a good time to try...regenerating her. She might be ready to come back as a gem!"

Prehnite couldn't figure out why he sounded so hesitant about this. "That's really, really good, Steven! When can we do it?" She didn't mean to sound as urgent as she did, and she regretted freaking Steven out a little.

"Do you, uh, remember when you regenerated from being a centipeetle?" Steven was twiddling his fingers a bit now.

"Not really. I remember lots of nice, cool, sweet-smelling water and you."

Steven made an odd face now. "Well...in order to let her come back, we're going to have to poof Spessartine first."

The room was silent for a few moments, apart from Spessartine gurgling loudly from a few feet away.

"Oh." was all Prehnite managed.

"We won't bubble her or anything! We just poof her really quick and then let her reform normally! When we did it with you, you reformed really quickly into...you. Really you. Spessartine's probably ready!"

"Are you sure?" Prehnite demanded. "Are you sure she won't just regenerate into a worm again and suffer more?"

Steven shrank back slightly. "Well...no. There's no way to be completely sure. We guessed with you, too. It's just kinda...something you feel inside."

Prehnite scowled slightly and got up, leaving the rest of the pancakes for Steven. "I just hope you're right."

Steven hesitated for another second, then asked, "Do you want us to bring you to the fountain when we let Spessartine reform?"

"Yeah," was Prehnite's short answer as she curled up in her corner, cradling Spessartine again. Steven nodded, then collected his breakfast stuff and exited through the Gate, leaving Prehnite to have some alone time with Spessartine before the main event.

 

Garnet returned from her mission as Steven and Pearl worked on the dishes. Amethyst was busy chugging macaroni cheese while Pearl wasn't paying attention.

"Oh! Welcome back, Garnet!" Pearl called over her shoulder as she towelled a dish dry.

"S'up, G-Squad?" Amethyst greeted in between finger licks.

"Didja find anything cool?" asked Steven. Garnet flashed him a smile and pulled out a really cool looking tiny statue of what he figured was a gem. He gazed at it with star eyes and a loud "Thank you!"

"So, Steven," Garnet began, reclining against the counter. "Is today the day?" She gave him a thumbs up as Steven eagerly nodded his head.

"I'm gonna go get Prehnite and Spessartine in a little while!" he answered eagerly, resulting in a collective look from the gems. "Prehnite wanted to come too..."

Pearl and Amethyst raised their eyebrows but Garnet nodded. "She can come, but she will need to be at least a little restrained."

"I can tie her hands _good!_ " Amethyst offered, and Garnet answered with a "Good enough."

"So, it's settled, then?" Pearl asked. "We're going to Rose's fountain at noon?"

"Yes," Garnet answered firmly.

 

At noon, Steven activated the Gate and entered Prehnite's room, finding her in her corner, still hugging the worm.

"It's time," he said gently, offering Prehnite a hand. "I'm really sorry, but Amethyst's gonna tie your hands together."

"As long as I'm still coming," Prehnite grunted, getting to her feet and reluctantly handing Spessartine to Steven. She squealed and wrapped around his shoulders, shoving her fingers into his curly hair.

Steven led Prehnite out of her room by the hand, the Gate closing behind them. In tense silence, Prehnite offered her wrists to Amethyst as Garnet, Pearl, and Steven stepped onto the warp. When Amethyst and Prehnite joined them on the warp, it activated and engulfed them in a glowing warp stream.

Prehnite found herself panicking slightly, having not used a warp properly in centuries. The shuddering green gem found herself drifting into a comforting Steven hug, and she relaxed into his little arms as Spessartine screeched in alarm, slithering between them in fear of the warp stream.

Finally the stream cut out, dropping them on the fountain warp. Prehnite nearly fell on her face, but Steven steadied her. Still in tense silence, the group of gems began the short hike to the fountain. The plants were still slightly overgrown and wild, but they weren't attacking, and there were still some flowers.

To everyone's relief, the fountain was still running like normal when they arrived. Steven stared at the statue of Rose in mute wonder, and Prehnite followed his gaze, slowly recognizing the rebel leader. She immediately tensed and snarled.

"No, no! Prehnite, it's okay! This is my mom's fountain!" He attempted to hug her again, but Prehnite struggled free.

"Steven! She's the rebel leader! She's gonna..." She trailed off, slowly remembering that the war was, in fact, long over. "She's not gonna do anything now."

Steven gazed at Prehnite in concern, and gently lifted Spessartine off her shoulders again. "My mom had healing powers, kinda like the ones I had. But she also had this super magical healing fountain that's really strong. The water here is what really seals the deal on you guys reforming right."

"I was healed by Rose Quartz," Prehnite muttered with the slightest hint of disgust. She turned her gaze on the statue again, and sighed. She couldn't deny the beauty of this place.

Now Steven carried Spessartine to the fountain, lowering her into the water. The worm shrieked with joy, rushing into the pool with vigor, eagerly swimming around with somewhat surprising speed. Steven watched her swim, slightly teary eyed, as Garnet approached and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be quick, I promise," she assured him, summoning a gauntlet on her free hand. Steven looked up at her and sniffled, and she gave him a small reassuring smile before stepping forward and lifting her gauntlet hand into the air. 

Spessartine splashed around, unassuming, and swam withing Garnet's range. Prehnite trembled with all kinds of emotions as Garnet primed herself to strike. Just when Prehnite couldn't take the stress anymore...

Spessartine swam too close, and Garnet brought her gauntlet down almost in a blur. The worm let out a very brief scream of shock, and then she vanished in a puff of smoke. An orange gemstone with glowing wiring sank to the bottom of the fountain, and the water crackled quietly for a few moments.

"Spessartine?" Prehnite choked out, staring at the gemstone with wide-eyed terror.

The gems watched the gemstone in the fountain silently for several moments, Prehnite slowly stepping closer to recieve a comforting arm around her from Steven. She was trembling violently now, eye never leaving the spessartine in the fountain.

Finally, when it seemed as if it might be inert, the gemstone started to glow a bright orange, and the wiring got even brighter. The fountain crackled again, the water glowing with electricity now. Garnet pushed Steven behind her for safety, and Prehnite let go of a loud sob.

Slowly the glowing orange gem rose from the water, and the fountain stopped glowing and crackling. The air around the gem flashed with sparks and small bolts as a glowing shape emerged, seeming to curl into a fetal position...

...and then the figure let out a banshee scream, distorting into a shape with wriggling fingers on its head...

...and then it distorted again, sobbing loudly as it shifted back into a humanoid shape, limbs shooting out rigidly as they were shot through with high voltage. The gems watched in mute horror as finally, the shape seemed to stick to a humanoid form, shortish poofyish hair and a flowing cape forming. Another moment later, the light solidified into a form. The electric gem dropped into the fountain with a splash and a thud, and she lay still and face down in the once again electrified water. Her limbs gave violent twitches every so often as sparks and bolts danced across the water.

Prehnite now shoved Steven and Garnet aside, trying to jump in the fountain. "SPESSARTINE!" she called as her hands hit the water, and voltage surged through her body. Her hair spiked up with loud crackles, and she screamed loudly in the brief span of time before Garnet yanked her back. Prehnite twitched wildly for a second, then went still in Garnet's arms, defeated.

"That was extremely foolish!" Garnet snapped, and then she spoke more gently. "I'll get her out of the fountain."

Once she set Prehnite down in the grass, she walked to the fountain and carefully lifted Spessartine out with her gauntlets. The electric gem was still very much live with voltage, still twitching and yelping. Her brown eyes were vacantly staring up at Garnet. If one didn't know any better, if she wasn't live with electricity and had her mouth closed, one might mistake her for a redheaded human in a weird costume. Garnet gently set Spessartine down in the grass, and Spessartine weakly reached out to her with a trembling hand, sobbing again as more voltage surged through her.

"Spessartine," Prehnite sobbed, then sitting up and snapping her head toward the gems. "Untie me! I can fix this!"

Pearl shot her a look before Amethyst held up a hand. "Hey, I'll keep an eye on this bugger. If she tries anything she's TOAST!" The purple gem dissipated the whip around Prehnite's wrists with a wave of her hand, and Prehnite summoned her dart gun from her gem eye.

The green gem stood over the convulsing Spessartine, gun aimed with a slightly trembling hand. "Open wide," she choked out.

Tears streaming from her eyes, Spessartine obliged, and Prehnite shot her acid-free dart at the wiring on the gemstone in the back of her mouth. There was one last violent surge of electricity and resulting convulsion, and then the heavily breathing Spessartine lay still, having gone completely limp after her ordeal. Her eyes still followed Prehnite, however, as the green gem dispelled her gun, knelt down, carefully removed the dart from her mouth, and ever so gently pulled her into a hug.

"I missed you so much, Spess."

Weakly, Spessartine whispered back to her, her voice extremely raspy. "Hiya, sharpshooter."


	10. [Present] Recharge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY  
> School hit me like a freight train and I was unable to update this for a month...and then when I had the opportunity, writer's block hit me. I've finally got both the time and inspiration...  
> I have good news and bad news about the future of this fic:  
> Bad news: I can't commit to any update schedule. SoStR will update when I have time and inspiration, both of which tend to be beyond my control. I'll try to update at least once a month from now on, though!  
> Good news: I do have a multitude of ideas for things to include in future updates. I just need to figure out how to make them flow...and yes, this includes more monsters in the very near future!  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The Crystal Gems had to repeatedly ask for Prehnite to hand Spessartine over to Garnet for transport back to the temple, culminating in Steven bribing her with an econo-sized bag of chaaaaps all to herself. When Prehnite refused even that offer, clinging tightly to her long-lost best friend, Spessartine spoke up in a creaky voice.

"Prehnite, chill. I'm not gonna be walking, anyway." She lifted a shaky hand to pat Prehnite on the back, then allowed herself to go limp as a ragdoll again.

"Are you sure you don't need another round in the fountain?" Amethyst asked uncertainly. "You look preeeetty messed up there."

"I'll be fine," Spessartine grunted before wincing slightly. "This has happened to me before..."

Amethyst gave her a sympathetic look as Garnet strode over and stretched out her arms to take the electric gem. Prehnite scowled, hesitated, then finally let go of Spessartine. She glared at Garnet the entire time as the fusion gently cradled and picked Spessartine up, and kept her eye burning into the fusion's back as Amethyst reluctantly retied Prehnite's hands.

"Now that that's been settled," Pearl said as she gingerly plucked a stray vine off of a statue, "let's go home."

 

The warp ride back was uneventful, apart from Prehnite being incredibly antsy, which made Steven hug her leg for the duration to keep her from having a fit.

Upon arrival, Prehnite yelped and stumbled off the warp pad, falling over due to her hands being restrained. Amethyst couldn't stifle a giggle, resulting in Steven giving her a look of mild disapproval. The purple gem, still attempting not to laugh, dispelled her whip and freed Prehnite. She bounced to her feet almost immediately and gave the Crystal Gems an unhappy pout.

"Okay, we're home," Prehnite growled. "Give her back."

Spessartine sighed loudly and dramatically from Garnet's arms as the fusion stepped off the warp pad. "Prehnite...relax. I'm not cracked or anything..."

"But you're hurt!" Prehnite wailed.

"Not. Cracked." Spessartine asserted before giving a small woozy moan. "Just really tired..."

Prehnite scampered after Garnet as she carried Spessartine to the Gate, activating it with glowing gems. The Gate split open to the small, blank room they called home, and Garnet gently set Spessartine in the center of the floor before turning to Prehnite.

"Let her rest. She's exhausted," she stated simply before walking back outside, closing the Gate behind her.

Almost immediately, Prehnite ignored Garnet's advice.

"What were you thinking, Spess?" Prehnite cried as she sat next to her and leaned over the other gem's body to get close to her face.

"Relax!" Spessartine groaned, weakly trying to shove the green gem off of her.

"I saw you running into the ocean," Prehnite muttered hoarsely. "What were you thinking?"

Spessartine's expression suddenly became very unhappy. "I was tired, just like I am now! Just relax and lemme rest, will you?!" She attempted to scoot away, but Prehnite gently grabbed her wrist, effectively pinning her in place.

"What does being tired have to do with running into the ocean?" Prehnite demanded, sounding increasingly distressed. "You ran into the ocean and got shot and then you-" Prehnite's voice cracked, and she swallowed hard. "Why?"

Spessartine narrowed her eyes, staring Prehnite down for several tense moments. Then she shut her eyes with the saddest sigh Prehnite had ever heard.

"I was tired of all the fighting and I just wanted to escape it. Even for just a little while." She opened her eyes again, and they were filled with the most intense exhaustion. 

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that?" Prehnite sobbed, struggling to not produce tears. "I think I d-deserved to know!"

Spessartine was silent for several more moments, before she finally answered with "I didn't want you to worry about lil' ole me. You had enough to worry about for yourself."

Prehnite's body shook with restrained sobs, and her grip on Spessartine's wrist tightened. "You left me alone!" she screeched. "Do you know how that f-feels? You just b-break inside and-"

Prehnite was caught off-guard as Spessartine reached up and pulled her into a tight embrace, holding the green gem down on top of her like a living blanket. The room was silent apart from Prehnite's ragged breathing for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, Spessartine broke the silence.

"I love you, Prehnite."

It was so soft that Prehnite almost missed it. Her eye widened, and she adjusted her position slightly to lift her head and peer into Spessartine's face. She looked like she was- what did Steven call it again?- sleeping. Her eyes were shut and her lips completely relaxed. Had Prehnite made that up?

Prehnite hung there for several more seconds, breath caught in her throat, until she took her chances.

"I love you, Spess."

Spessartine opened one eye a miniscule amount, and the corner of her lips twitched upward.

"I'll let you sleep now," Prehnite murmured. "Oh-! Sleep is what humans do when they rest. They close their eyes and-"

"I watched Steven do it," Spessartine mumbled.

"Oh." Prehnite got up to give Spessartine her sleeping space, but she found a trembling hand gently wrapping around her ankle as she turned away.

"Sleep with me," Spessartine murmured. "You're exhausted."

Prehnite was about to argue that she was fine, but then realized she did feel awfully worn out. "Yeah, guess so," she confirmed with a small laugh.

Spessartine patted the ground next to her, then rolled over onto her side, holding her arms out. Prehnite grinned and eagerly placed herself at Spessartine's side, wrapping her arms around her as the orange gem did the same.

"Good night," Prehnite whispered.

"Silly," Spessartine smirked. "It's the middle of the day."

"It's what humans say before they go to sleep," she answered defensively.

There was a quiet giggle. "Good night, Prehnite."

Prehnite closed her eye and started drifting off in the warm embrace. Before she was completely out, she faintly registered a murmur of "I missed you."

And then she was asleep, a small smile on her face.


	11. [Present] Don't bite off...

Steven watched the Gate nervously as Garnet emerged, nonchalant as ever.

"Are they okay?" he asked in concern from his seat by the counter. He'd already gotten out a glass of lemonade to calm his nerves.

"Spessartine needs to rest. She'll be fine." Garnet pulled up a seat next to Steven, and watched the worried boy take a few loud sips of lemonade, then affectionately ruffled his hair. "You did it yet again, Steven."

Steven tried to smile, but it quickly melted back into a small frown. "I know she didn't come back as a worm this time, but...is she really healed?" He averted Garnet's mirror gaze. "She doesn't seem okay..." He quickly turned his head back towards Garnet as she rested a hand on his shoulder. She lifted up her visor to reveal her three heterochromatic eyes, then winked and lowered it again. Steven took a moment to process the gesture, then giggled appreciatively.

"She'll be alright," Garnet reassured him before getting up again. "You're doing these gems a world of good. Keep it up."

As the fusion walked back through the Gate, Steven contentedly sipped the rest of his lemonade.

 

A couple of hours later, Steven was sitting at the foot of his bed watching TV, with Pearl perched next to him. He was watching his favorite show, and was trying to convince Pearl that it was quality programming.

"This episode is one of the best! It's where Sad Waffle accidentally hurts Bawling Bacon's feelings so he and Glum Glass try to get her to forgive him..."

Pearl blinked. "Why is this strip of meat so upset over losing a toy car? Can't she buy another one at the toy store?"

Steven shook his head sadly. "It was a collectible, and Bacon's favorite. Poor thing was really torn up."

Pearl turned to look at the sobbing deep-fried pork on screen and shook her head. "If you say so."

Steven sighed in mild disappointment as he saw the confusion written all over Pearl's face, then turned back toward the screen and gasped. "Oh! This is the part where Glum Glass reveals the present she got for Bawling Bacon!"

Pearl stared vacantly at the screen until the Gate activated. She craned her head to look in excitement. "Oh! Amethyst! Do you need anything?"

"Just came out to grab a snack," Amethyst shrugged as she traipsed over to the fridge.

"Don't chug the motor oil again," Pearl called sternly. Amethyst smirked as she grabbed everything surrounding the motor oil, closed the door with her foot, then walked back toward the Gate and entered her room with her arms piled full of stuff.

"Amethyst!" Pearl groaned as she stood up and bounded down the stairs. While she was honestly looking for a valid excuse to not watch this weird show, she was also legitimately concerned that Amethyst was going to chug rat poison again.

Steven found himself alone with the tearful and heartwarming end of the episode. He watched it all the way through, then quietly turned off the TV. The house was quiet, apart from the usual hum of the refrigerator. 

Silently, Steven climbed down from his loft and approached the Gate, his gem glowing softly through his shirt. The Gate opened up to Prehnite and Spessartine's room, where the two gems were lying in the center of the floor, arms wrapped around each other as they slept. Steven couldn't suppress a soft "Awww..." and snapped a quick picture before leaving the room. He could've sworn that Prehnite's eye had opened just a crack as he left.

With a smile he sent the picture to Connie, captioned with "Spessartine's back!!" and a smiley emoji, then put his phone away. Seeing the snoozing gems had made him feel better...but he still felt restless.

There were still more gems that needed healing!

Again he opened the Gate, but this time it opened up to an expanse of pink clouds. He jogged inside as the Gate closed behind him, calling out, "Room! I need to get to the basement!"

The clouds parted to reveal the vein of the Crystal Heart that lead to the Burning Room, and Steven grabbed a hold and slid down.

When he got far enough down he could see the multitudes of bubbled gems sprawling ahead of him. Garnet was lounging in a corner, appearing to be deep in thought. Maybe she was consulting her Future Vision?

He flew off the vein and nailed the landing, alerting Garnet to his presence. She looked mildly displeased, but all she said was "I'd like it if you knocked, Steven."

"Hehe, sorry about that," he answered sheepishly as she stood up. "I just wanted to, uh..."

"You wanted to release another corrupted gem," she answered for him, tilting her head toward the bubbles behind her.

"Yeah." He looked into her face for any hint of a reaction, but as usual, her face was unreadable. 

"Are you prepared to handle another corrupted gem?" she asked seriously, the eyes behind her visor locked onto Steven's.

Steven nodded resolutely, donning his serious face. "I wanna help as many gems as I can!"

"It's going to be difficult," Garnet insisted. He'd already restored two gems, and he wasn't even hesitating to launch into a third. She needed to make sure he knew what he was getting into. His intentions were pure...but he didn't seem to be fully grasping the gravity of what he was doing. "You need to be absolutely sure you can handle it before you continue."

Steven nodded, but none of his resolution seemed to fade. "I did it twice. Please, Garnet! I don't want these gems to hurt anymore!"

Garnet hesitated another moment, then swept her arm out. "Very well. Pick a gem."

Steven grinned, and with starry eyes gazed up at the assortment of gems. He finally rested his gaze on a pink bubble containing a blue, cone-shaped gem. "That one."

Garnet strode over and gently cupped the bubble in her hands before passing it to Steven. "You do the honors." The boy grinned, then held the bubble with one hand as he used a finger on the other to pop it. The gem dropped into his hand, and he cautiously placed it on the ground near his feet and stepped back.

After a few tense moments, the gemstone began to glow and hover. Light burst forth from it, and it formed itself into a short and thin little figure, who seemed to be standing rigid and proud for a moment.

But then the figure let out a beastly wail, and her hands flew to her head as her form began to ripple and tremble. Her scream distorted into a throaty growl as her limbs began to thicken with muscle...

And then her form completely vanished in a final distortion, save for the glowing, hovering gemstone. The glow faded, but the gemstone still hovered, and the growling lingered.

"I remember you!" Steven gasped. "You lived on the island!"

Abruptly the invisible monster's gemstone turned away from them and started moving rapidly toward the wall. Steven and Garnet chased after the speedy beast, the only indication of her location being her floating, bobbing gemstone. The walls cracked slightly as she dug in her fingers and scurried up, roaring loudly in an attempt to scare off her pursuers.

"Please stop!" Steven cried, holding out a hand to her. "We want to help you!"

Garnet made a face at the cracks in her wall.

The invisible monster again abruptly changed direction, springing off the wall and directly on top of a reddish bubble. It immediately burst open, dumping a blue spikeball of a gem on the ground. 

Steven's breath caught in his throat as it began to glow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops here's another one with a cliffhanger DUN DUN DUN  
> poor prehnite and spess are gonna wake up to a storm


	12. [Present] ...more than you can chew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter I've written in more than one sitting. Oops.

The glowing spikeball rose into the air slowly as Steven watched, with Garnet turning to try and wrangle the fleeing invisible monster. A glowing form began to emerge from it, shaping itself into a humanoid like other corrupted gems before it. She stood serenely for a moment, gem in the back of her head, before clutching at her stomach and screeching. Immediately her glowing form distorted, shrinking down toward the ground and warping into something distinctly not humanoid.

When the glowing stopped, Steven found himself staring down a mini version of the drill creature that made a bunch of little parasites that left holes all over the cliffs. She was shuffling nervously on five thin legs, and then twirled her mouthparts into a drill. Steven yelped and picked up the little drill monster to try and prevent her from burrowing her way out of the temple. She flailed her little legs in protest as Steven gave her a sad look, and then she unfurled her drill and slapped Steven’s face with one of the tendrils.

“Ow!” he cried, dropping the driller. Immediately she formed a drill again and started drilling into the floor, all signs of nervous hesitation absent in her body language.

“Wait, don’t go!” Steven called as he reached for the driller again. “I just wanna help you feel better!” The driller, however, didn’t seem to understand. As soon as Steven’s hand got within range, she unfurled her drill and started to furiously pound at it. He recoiled his hand sadly just as he heard pounding footfalls behind him.

“Steven! Watch out!” Garnet bellowed, charging after the invisible monster. The bobbing gemstone was heading directly for him and the driller, roaring in fury. Steven grabbed onto the driller despite her protests and threw up a last-second bubble. The invisible monster slammed into it with a grunt, sending the two of them rolling while Garnet finally grabbed the rampaging gem.

“Gotcha,” she stated with a slight smirk as the monster bellowed and squirmed in the grip of her gauntlets. Steven brought down his bubble and stumbled over to Garnet, with the driller struggling valiantly in his arms. “We need to get them outside…” he mumbled, looking battered from several good tendril smacks. Garnet was honestly impressed with how gently the boy was holding the creature, considering how un-gentle she was with him.

“Their bubble popping days are over,” Garnet sneered, opening the Gate. Steven followed her outside, where Amethyst and Pearl were standing near the warp pad.

“Are you okay? We heard noises!” Pearl gasped, then she noticed what her teammates were carrying and her eyes got huge. “

Yeah, sounded like you were having a rodeo down there,” Amethyst commented, shoving a half-eaten bagel in her mouth.

“You’re not far off,” Garnet answered as she activated the Gate again, and it opened up to what Steven had started calling “the guest room.” Prehnite was sitting cross-legged with a still-sleeping Spessartine’s head in her lap. She looked rather surprised when the Gate opened.

“Why did you unbubble two?” Pearl demanded. “Isn’t that a bit much?”

Prehnite was gently shaking Spessartine awake, and the orange gem groggily moaned and rolled over. “Spess, wake up,” Prehnite hissed quietly, and she grudgingly obliged, sitting up and glaring at the open Gate.

“Guys, you have new roommates!” Steven was attempting to sound cheery, but just how daunted he was feeling now was leaking into his voice. The Crystal Gems swapped looked of concern behind his back. The driller got one last whack in on his face before he set her down and backed away.

Spessartine was squinting at the driller, and Prehnite’s eye suddenly went wide. “Spess! You were in Blue Faction! Do you recognize either of these two?” she blurted out as Garnet set down the invisible monster next to the driller. Spessartine rubbed her eyes, then stood up, looking down at the crystalline brittle star and the floating gemstone in interest.

“Yeah, I think I recognize the floating one,” she muttered. “Honestly surprised she got corrupted with how much mad respect she was getting.”

“And why did she get mad respect?” Prehnite asked with a tilt of her head. The invisible monster snuffled loudly in apparent disapproval.

“She and her partner were masters of stealth missions. Her partner was apparently really hard to work with, too, but they were, like, the dynamic duo of their platoon. She was the assassin and her partner covered for her. Wonder how she got in this sorry state?” Spessartine’s musing was interrupted by the invisible monster roaring at her and stomping in another direction, only to be blocked by Amethyst cockily clutching her whip.

“What was her name?” Steven asked softly. Spessartine shrugged. “Chalcedony. I never actually met her, mind you...but word went around about that one. Tiny but terrifying.”

“What about the other one?” Prehnite pressed, gesturing at the driller.

Spessartine stared blankly at the driller until she spontaneously whirled her mouthparts into drill formation, prompting Steven to grab her again. He grunted as she started whacking him again. “That,” Spessartine said with a small sigh, “is Celestite.”

Prehnite looked very curious now. “You knew her, didn’t you.”

“She was in my platoon. I figure that’s her because it’s spiky as heck and that drill bit looked like one of her lances. That, and she was a drama queen.” The orange gem walked over to Steven and plucked the driller from his hands. The beast made a wheezing noise, then tried to smack Spessartine. She smirked and gave her a small jolt of electricity, enough to make the driller stop fighting. “Friendly gem most of the time, though,” Spessartine added as she patted the crystalline shell of the driller and the creature gently wheezed.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Prehnite grunted, watching the invisible monster thunder around the room in laps. “So Chalcedony and Celestite are our new roomies?”

Steven nodded. “Yup! They’re gonna be staying here for a while like you are...so I need you to be nice to them, okay? Maybe you can help them heal! I’m not sure if I can handle both of them on my own…”

“You have Connie,” Prehnite suggested helpfully, leering at the floating gemstone that was clomping toward her.

“Connie’s busy with other stuff too, though. She can’t be here all the time. I need other help, too!”

“Aye-eye, capn’!” Spessartine answered cheerfully, saluting with one hand and holding the driller in the other. Prehnite looked less than thrilled with the arrangement, especially when an invisible and meaty fist connected with the back of her knee. She yelped and crumpled to the floor.

“Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” Steven gasped.

“Fine,” Prehnite growled, punching the air right above the floating gemstone. The invisible monster bellowed in pain and staggered backwards, presumably gripping her injured face.

“Chalcedony, that was very mean of you. Say sorry,” Steven demanded. The invisible monster let out a noise that was half roar and half whimper, then whirled around and turned her back on Prehnite.

“Okaaayyy...good enough.” Prehnite smirked a bit at that, and Steven turned to her with a stern look. “You weren’t very nice, either! Say sorry to Chalcedony.” Prehnite mumbled something bitterly under her breath as she stood up, and Steven sighed. “Okay, guys. You need to get along! I think we’ll play some ice breaking games!”

The Crystal Gems politely and promptly excused themselves, saying that Steven seemed to have a handle on things now.


	13. ART DUMP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY FOR THE HIATUS OH MY GOD  
> A lot, a lot, a lot of stuff has been going on in my life and with writer's block on top of that, I haven't accomplished any writing for this story in months and that's a travesty  
> Fret not...I have some relevant doodles that will help fill the void till i get my act together and post a new chapter!  
> The first of these is actually a direct illustration from the end of Chapter 9! Along with that, the third is directly from part 1 of Acidic Phoenix!  
> And again, I apologize profusely for the hiatus. Welcome back, just in time for Steven Nuke 2016!

> [View post on imgur.com](//imgur.com/a/934OQ)


	14. [Flashback] The most dangerous game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And to help me punch through my writer's block....something different :D   
> I had fun with this one!

She'd had it made.

A small quartz like her was not meant to ever see combat, but she'd proven her worth by kicking the inspector's butt immediately upon leaving the ground. In a time of war, they couldn't turn aside a single able-bodied fighter. She was enlisted into one of Blue Faction's many platoons, led by an agate that firmly believed in the buddy system for missions.

She had to go through several rickety partnerships before meeting her match, and they became an unstoppable duo.

Until today.

"JET!" Chalcedony screeched, ramming the heads of two incoming rebels together as she sprang over them and kept running. She craned her neck, but her intimidating partner was nowhere in sight. Growling in frustration, Chalcedony reached for her gem and flicked a fistful of shuriken into a nearby bixbite.

Today's march had been going so well, but then the platoon reached the nearest warp pad only to find it completely overrun with Crystal Gems. They'd walked directly into an ambush, one the rebels had clearly been planning for a while. At first it seemed like an even enough match, but then more Crystal Gems swarmed in from either side, penning the Blue platoon in.

Chalcedony refused to be trapped here.

She darted through legs, launched off of shoulders, fired shuriken left and right, and made herself scarce as the battle dragged on. Her only sound was to occasionally call for Jet. Occasionally she'd see boulders and tree branches levitate in the distance, but Chalcedony could never get there in time.

This battle had been going okay up until the rebels managed to separate Jet from her.

Unfortunately, Chalcedony had gotten soft from coming to rely on her partner for support. She knew that in decades past she could've wrecked way more gems than she was wrecking now. She made a note to herself to train harder if she made it out of this alive.

At this rate, it looked like that was a rather big "if."

Chalcedony scrambled to the top of a boulder and screamed her partner's name once more, waiting there for a stupid foolish moment, feeling excitement as she finally caught sight of Jet smashing some gemstones under another boulder...

And then a grappling hook snapped around her and sent her sprawling to the ground, where she found a boot on her chest. With a gasp she stared up at an Aquamarine who was smirking to herself.

"Well, ladies, we finally got the rat that's been picking our friends off!" Aquamarine announced, grinding her boot in for emphasis. Several other Crystal Gems gathered around, sadistic grins on their faces.

A Topaz stepped forward and cracked her knuckles. "Been waitin' for this a long time, punk." From behind her stepped a scrawny Ametrine who was fiddling with her bolas but looked otherwise nonthreatening...aside from the hard glint in her eyes.

"Any last words?" Aquamarine asked with a sneer, leaning down and pulling Chalcedony's chin up with a bent finger.

"Screw you," Chalcedony spat, before grabbing Aquamarine's leg and all but throwing her off. She sprang to her feet and started running for her life, pin-cushioning a few more rebels as she passed. Couldn't pass that opportunity up.

She almost laughed when she thought she'd ditched them, but then an expertly thrown bolas wrapped around her legs and sent her skidding across the warp pad. In a moment of panic she started trying to visualize a place to warp to...

"Dammit! She's getting away. Move, move, MOVE!" Aquamarine screeched, sprinting forward while twirling her grappling hook. Topaz and Ametrine leaped into action behind her, and the Crystal Gems slammed into the warp pad the instant the wrap stream flared to life.

"You're not going anywhere, clod," Aquamarine snarled as she scowled in concentration, redirecting the wrap stream. Chalcedony almost changed it back when Ametrine floated over and wrapped her slender fingers around her throat with a death grip.

Unfortunately for Ametrine, the wrap stream cut out just then, and they slammed into the wrap pad. Ametrine let go in surprise and with a grunt, Chalcedony rolled off the pad and used a shuriken to slice the bolas off. That done, she got up and made a break for it, leaping into the thick jungle canopy to make good her escape.

 She felt some satisfaction at hearing the Crystal Gems bickering loudly behind her.

* * *

 

She was beginning to lose hope.

They were all on her trail, having split up a long time ago. She was constantly on the move, constantly chucking shuriken to avoid captre, likely cruel punishment, and eventual shattering. These rebels carried a nasty vendetta when Chalcedony couldn't even remember ever seeing them before. They were probably background characters in one of her old assassination missions. 

She probably wasn't going on any more missions at this rate.

She fumbled another jump due to exhaustion, and grimaced as she slammed her face into a branch before grabbing the branch below it, only a second to spare. Grunting heavily, she hauled herself onto the branch and wiped her brow, before hearing a twig snap and hastily pulling more shuriken from her gem. Ametrine got ready to hurl another bolas, but shuriken snapped the string and rendered it useless. Ametrine let out a cry of frustration as Chalcedony once again began a frantic run.

She wasn't allowed a moment of peace on this infernal island.

She had to find the damn warp pad again. In her hastiness she'd just run off earlier and forgotten to pay a lick of attention to where the warp was. Now she was paying dearly for that simple little error, probably with her life. If she couldn't find that warp, this could be an endless chase.

She just had to hope Jet was giving the Crystal Gems hell for her.

Chalcedony stumbled through another patch of undergrowth, hauled her tired body into yet another tree, and just sprawled on the branch, eyes bleary. Gems may be made for war, but even a gem could only take so much before running out of steam. After all, she had to evade three extremely determined rebel gems with nothing to lose.

It sucked having something to lose, in this instance. They'd all wonder where she went, and frantically look for someone to fill her position. Jet would probably be unable to find another partner and reassigned to another platoon at best, retired at worst.

Chalcedony sincerely hoped Jet wasn't retired.

In a period of extended silence, Chalcedony allowed herself to slip out of the tree, landing on her feet with a grunt. She cautiously approached the gigantic open geode that was half-concealed by bushes. It was beautiful; she'd noticed several of them dotting the island, but she'd never gotten to actually examine one up close till now. It glittered invitingly in the sun, and she allowed herself to curl up inside it and rest, listening to the jungle sounds around her.

This was what the Crystal Gems were fighting for, she supposed. She did admit that this planet was very beautiful, but organic life was fleeting in the grand scheme of things. She couldn't fathom why an entire Faction of gems and then some were willing to lay down their lives for such a fragile planet.

She didn't hate the Crystal Gems for what they believed in, merely how they turned on all of gemkind for the sake of those beliefs. She couldn't abide that.

When she felt more rested, Chalcedony sprang back into the canopy, shuriken ready, framed by a gorgeous sunset.

* * *

 Chaledony was on her last leg.

She needed to leave this island SHE NEEDED TO LEAVE.

She needed to survive and leave! SHE NEEDED TO SURVIVE.

She dragged herself to another tree branch with a ragged grunt, shaky hands wrapped around it in a death grip. Her gem flickered every so often as she twitchily debated summoning more shuriken or not. She was shaking. It was sloppy of her and oh so unprofessional but she was shaking like a leaf, head twitching to and fro in constant surveillance. She couldn't rest...she had to move. Every twig snapping, every fern rustling...those noises couldn't be trusted. More often than not, a rustle ended with some small animal falling to the ground, a shuriken pin cushion. And Chalcedony kept missing! Unacceptable...

She continued her long haul, coming to the edge of the trees where a large waterfall roared into a clear pool. She walked directly into the water with a loud groaning noise, shuddering as the cool temperatures pierced her body.

Then she looked down at the golden arrow protruding from her chest. Oh. That was what was piercing. She let out a shriek of alarm, realizing that she was about to poof and _they were about to get her gem if they got her gem they'd shatter her they can't shatter her they can't they can't-_

The terrified and shaky gem vanished with a poof of smoke, her gemstone flickering with light and sinking to the bottom of the pool.

_they were going to shatter her they can't get her gemstone they can't-_

Immediately upon touching bottom the gemstone lit up, and began projecting a new form. She had to be strong to fight them off and leave and survive and in order to survive she couldn't be found and she had to be strong she had to be very strong very very strong and stealthy and

invisible

First her form took her default shape, light and slender, but then with a bubbly underwater scream her entire form shuddered and rippled, limbs and torso becoming grotesquely swollen with the strongest, most powerful muscles she could project. She forewent every unnecessary aspect, like a fancy uniform or pretty hair or anything flippant. And when she was done shredding her body, the monster at the bottom of the lake roared in agony a final time, and the lights dimmed.

All that remained was a small gently flickering gemstone floating toward the surface, a low droning growl filling the water.

* * *

 

"And you swear she was here?" Aquamarine sounded very unimpressed, though she did concede that it was in fact Topaz's arrow on the ground.

"You know I'm a long range fighter," Topaz huffed. "Honestly, she was right where you're standing, and the arrow nailed her right through the back. She was twitchy as all hell and poofed, just like that." Topaz snapped her fingers for emphasis. "What more do you want from me?"

"Chalcedony," Aquamarine growled, kicking a pebble and dispelling her hook. "You got me excited for nothing, clod."

"Maybe she was here," Ametrine offered quietly. "She might've pulled a really fast reformation."

Both Topaz and Aquamarine stared at her, and Ametrine sighed. "Y'know. She reformed way faster than normal and might've screwed up her form really bad. But not bad enough she couldn't run."

"She's not stupid, Ametrine," Aquamarine scoffed. "She knows better than to rush a reformation."

"Hey, I like her idea a lot better than being accused of lying," Topaz argued, with Aquamarine getting right up in her face. Topaz smacked her away with her bow, causing Aquamarine to yell and tackle her.

"Um, guys, this really isn't the best use of our time..." Ametrine began, before trailing off. They weren't listening. "Fine! I'll go find Chalcedony while you two argue like rookies!"

Well, they _were_ rookies, but that was beside the point.

Ametrine huffed and summoned her bolas, stepping back into the trees to find the missing target. Maybe she'd finally get some recognition around here if she was the one to bring the assassin in. Aquamarine was getting too big for her boots anyway.

Ametrine was so busy contemplating this that she was caught entirely by surprise when what felt like giant fists closed around her, and heavy hot breath stank in her face.

All she could see was a floating gemstone in front of her. Chalcedony.

She didn't even have time to scream before Chalcedony roared, then lifted her up and slammed her into the ground. Her neck snapped and she immediately poofed.

 

When Aquamarine and Topaz followed the roar, all they found was a patch of flattened plants and many glittering purple and golden shards.

They exchanged a worried glance as something roared in the distance.


End file.
